
Book. ^ 3 ^ "R 3 
CoipgM]^?. 

CORflRIGHT DEPOSHi 




r 



Brazilian Sketches 



By 



Rev. T. B. Ray, D.D. 

Educational Secretary of the 

Foreign Mission Board 

of the 

Southern Baptist Convention. 



1912 

Baptist World Publishing Company, 

Incorporated 

Louisville, Ky, 




^^'^u^ 



Copyright 1912. 

by 

BAPTIST WORJrfTpUBLlSHING CO. 




V^ 



CCLA312843 



TO MY WIFE 

AVHO SHAKED THE JOURNEY 

WITH ME 



CONTENTS 

I. The Country 9 

II. The Capital, Rio De Janeiro 13 

III. A Visit to a Country Church 21 

IV. Two Presidents 27 

V. The Gospel Withheld 33 

VI. Saint Worship 39 

VII. Penance and Priest 47 

VIII. The Gospel Triumphant 55 

IX. Jose Barretto 65 

X. Captain Egydio 71 

XI. Felicidade (Felicity) 83 

XII. Persecution 87 

XIII. The Bible as a Missionary Factor. . . 95 

XIV. The Mettle of the Native Christian.. 103 
XV. The Testing op the Missionary. . . . Ill 

XVI. The Urgent Call 119 

XVII. The Last Stand of the Latin Race. . 127 

Appendix 135 



FOREWORD, 

I was dining one day with a very successful business 
man who, although his business had extensive relations 
in many lands, was meageriy informed about the work 
of missions. I thought I might interest him by telling 
him something of the effects' of minions upon com- 
merce. So I told him about how the civilizing presence 
of missionary effort creates new demands which in turn 
increases trade. He listened oomprehendingly for a 
while and then remarked: ^^What you say is interest- 
ing, but what I wish to know is not whether missions 
increase business — we have business enough and have 
methods of increasing the volume — what I want to 
know is whether the missionary is making good and 
whether Christianity is making good in meeting the 
spiritual needs of the heathen. If ever I should become 
greatly interested in missions it would be because I 
should feel that Christianity could solve the spiritual 
problem for the heathen better than anything else. 
What are the facts about that phase of missions?" 

These words made a profound impression on me, 
and since then I have spent little time in setting forth 
the by-products of missions, tremendously important 
and interesting though they are. I place the main 
emphasis on how gloriously Christianity, through the 
efforts of the missionary, meets the aching spiritual 



hunger of the heathen heart and transforms his life 
into spiritual efficiency. 

Since this is my conception of what the burden of 
the message concerning missions should be, it should 
not surprise anyone to find the following pages filled 
with concrete staitements of actual gospel triumphs. 
I have endeavored to draw a picture of the religious 
situation in Brazil by reciting facts. I have described 
some of the work of others done in former years and I 
have recorded some wonderful manifestations of the 
triumphant power of the gospel which I was privileged 
to see with my own eyes. These pages record testi- 
mony which thing, I take it, most people desire con- 
cerning the missionary enterprise. More arguments 
might have been stated and more conclusions might 
have been expressed, but I have left the reader to make 
his own deductions from the facts I have tried faith- 
fully to record. 

No attempt has been made to follow in detail the 
itinerary taken by my wife and myself which carried 
us into Brazil, Argentina and Chili in South America, 
and Portugal and 'Spain in Europe. It is sufficient 
to know that we reached the places mentioned and can 
vouch for the truth of the facts stated. 

I have confined myself to sketc^hes about Brazil be- 
cause I did not desire to write a book of travd, but to 
show how the gospel succeeds in a Catholic field as 
being an example of the manner in which it is suc- 
ceeding in other similar lands where it is being 
preached vigorously. 

I wish to say also that I have drawn the materials 
from the experiences of my own denomination more 



largely because I know it better and therefore could 
bear more reliable testimony. It should be borne in 
mind that the successes of this one denomination are 
typical of the work of several other Protestant bodies 
now laboring in Brazil. 

The missionaries and other friends made it possible 
wherever we went to observe conditions 'at close range 
and under favorable auspices. To these dear friends 
who received us so cordially and labored so untiringly 
for our comfort and to make our visit most helpful we 
would express here our heartfelt gratitude. We record 
their experiences and ours in the hope that the knowl- 
edge of them may bring to the reader a better appre- 
ciation of the missionary and the great cause for which 
the missionary labors so self-sacrificingiy. 

Richmond, Va. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE COUNTKY. 

We had sailed in a southeasternly direction from 
New York twelve days when we rounded Cape St. 
Roque, the easternmost point of South America. A 
line drawn due north from this point would pass 
through the Atlantic midway between Europe and 
America. If we had sailed directly south we should 
have touched the western instead of the eastern coast, 
for the reason that practically the entire continent of 
South America lies east of the parallel of longitude 
which passes through New York. 

After sighting land we sailed along the coast three 
days before, we cast anchor at Bahia, our first landing 
place. Two days more were required to reach Rio de 
Janeiro. When we afterwards sailed from Rio to 
Buenos Aires, Argentina, we spent three and one-half 
days skirting along the shore of Brazil. For eight and 
one-half days we sailed in sight of Brazilian territory, 
and had we been close enough to shore north of Cape 
St. Roque, we should have added three days more to 
our survey of these far-stretdhing shores. Brazil lies 
broadside to the Atlantic Ocean with a coast line almost 
as long as the Pacific and Atlantic seaboards of the 
United States combined. Its ocean frontage is about 
4,000 miles in length. 



10 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

This coast line, hjowever, is not all the water front 
of Brazil. She boasts of the Amazon, the mightiest 
river in the world. This stream is navigable by ships 
of large draught for 2,700 miles from its mouth. It 
has eight tributaries from 700 to 1,200 miles and four 
from 1,500 to 2,000 miles in length. One of these, 
the Madeira, empties as much water into the larger 
stream as does the Mississippi into the Gulf. No other 
river system drains vaster or richer territory. It drains 
one million square miles more than does the Mis- 
sissippi, and in all it has 27,000 miles of navigable 
waters. 

The land connections of Brazil are also extensive. 
All the other countries on the continent, save Chili and 
Ecuador, border on Brazil. The Guianas and Vene- 
zuela, on the north; Colombia and Peru on the west; 
Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on the 
south — ^eight countries in all. 

It is indeed a vast territory. The United States could 
be placed wdthin its borders and still there would be 
left enough Brazilian territory to make a State as 
large as Texas. 

Almost from the time we sighted land until we 
rounded the cape near Montevideo, we could see the 
mountains along the shore. The mountains extend 
far interior and up and down the length of the coun- 
try. The climate of the tropical Amazon Valley is, 
of course, very hot, but as ^oon as the mountains are 
reached on the wa}^ south the climate even in the trop- 
ical section is modified. The section south of Rio, on 
account of the mountains and other forces of nature, 
has a temperate climate, delightful for the habitation 



12 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

of man. Each of these great zones, the tropical, the 
subtropical and the temperate, is marked more by its 
distinctive leading products than by climate. Each of 
these sections yields a product in which Brazil leads 
the world. The largest and most inexhaustible rubber 
supply in the world is found in the Amazon Valley 
region. The central section raises so much cocoa that 
it gives Brazil first rank in the production of this com- 
modity. The great temperate region produces three- 
fourths of all the coffee used in the world. Of course, 
there is much overlapping in the distribution of these 
products. Other products, such as cotton, farinha, 
beans, peas, tobacco, sugar, bananas, are raised in large 
quantities and could be far more extensively produced 
if the people would utilize the best methods and im- 
plements of modern agriculture. The mountains are 
full of ores and the forests of the finest timber, and 
the great interior has riches unknown to man. It has 
the most extensive unexplored region on earth. What 
the future holds for this m^arvelously endowed country, 
when her resources are revealed and brought to mar- 
ket, no one would dare predict.. Few countries in the 
world would venture a claim to such immense riches. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CAPITAL, RIO L>E JANEIRO. 

The city of Rio is the center of life in Brazil. \Ye 
entered the Bay of Rio after nightfall on the sixth of 
June. The miles and miles of lights in the city of Rio 
on the one side, and of Nictheroy on the other, gave 
us the impression that we were in some gigantic fair 
grounds. Missionaries Entzminger, Shepard, Maddox 
and. Mrs. Entzminger came aboard to welcome us and 
bring us ashore. We w^ere taken to the Rio Baptist 
College and Seaninary, where we were entertained' in 
good old Tennessee style by the Shepards. This school 
building was built in 1849 by Dom Pedro II. for a 
school which was known as the ^'Boarding School of 
Dom Pedro II." It accommodated two hundred stu- 
dents. The Emperor supported the school. In 1887 
the school was moved to larger quarters. Dr. Shepard 
is renting the property for our college, but our school 
like Dom Pedro's has outgrown these quarters and we 
are compelled to rent additional buildings some dis- 
tance away to accommodate the increasing num'ber 
of students. There are about three hundred students 
in all depairtments. 

As we studied the situation at close range, we had 
it driven in upon us that one of the greatest needs in 
Brazil is the one Dr. Shepard and his co-laborers are 



14 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

trying to meet in this school. Three-fourths of the 
population of Brazil cannot read. We need, above all 
things now, educated leaders. What a call is there for 
trained native paMors and evangehsts! Some of 
the Seminary students 'have 'been preaching as m'any 
as twenty-one times a month in addition to carrying 
their studies in the school. Dr. Shepard has been 
forced to stop them from some of this preaching be- 
cause it was preventing successful work in the class 
room. The need is so great that it is very difficult to 
keep the students from such work. 

I must not go too far afield from the subject of this 
chapter, but I must take the time to say that nothing 
breaks down prejudice against the gospel more ef- 
fectively than do the schools conducted by the various 
mission boards. One day a Methodist colporter en- 
tered a town in the interior of the State of Minas 
Geraes and began to preach and offer his Bibles for 
sale in the public square. Soon a fanatical mob was 
howling around him and his life was in imminent 
peril. Just as the excitement was at the highest two 
young men belonging to one of the best families in the 
place pressed through the crowd and, ascertaining that 
the man was a minister of the gospel, took charge of 
him and drove off the mob. They led the colporter 
to their home, which was the best in the town, and 
showed him generous hospitality. They invited the 
people in to hear him preach, and thus through their 
kindness the man and his message received a favorable 
hearing. It should be remembered, too, that these 
young men belonged to a very devout Eoman Catholic 
family. 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 15 

What was the secret of their actions? They had 
rescued, entertained and enabled to preach a man who 
was endeavoring to propagate a faith that was very 
much opposed to their own. The explanation is that 
they had attended Granbcrry College, that great Meth- 
odist school at Juiz de Fora. They had not accepted 
Protestant Christianity, but the school had given them 
such a vision and appreciation of the gospel that they 
could never again be the intolerant bigots their fellow 
townsmen were. The college had made them friends 
and that was a tremendous service. First we must have 
friends, then followers. Nothing more surely and more 
extensively makes friends for our cause than the 
schools, and it must be said also that they are wonder- 
fully effective in the work of direct evangelization. 

The First Baptist Church commi^ioiied Deacon 
Theodore Teixeira and Dr. Shepard to pilot us over 
the city. The church provided us with an automobile 
and our splendid guides magnified their office. It is 
a magnificent city, indeed. The strip of land between 
the mountains and the seashore is not wide. In some 
places, in fact, the mountains come quite down to the 
water. The city, in the most beautiful and picturesque 
way, avails itself of all possible space, even in miany 
places climbing high on the mountain sides and press- 
ing itself deep into the ooves. Perhaps no city in 
the world has a more picturesque combination of 
mountain and water with which to make a beautiful 
location. It has about a million inhabitants, and 
being the federal capital, is the greatest and most in- 
fluential city in Brazil. 

Most of its streets are narrow and tortuous and until 



16 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

recently were oonsidered unhealthy. A few years ago 
the magnificent Avenida Central was cut through the 
heart of the city and one of the most beautiful avenues 
in the world was built. Twelve million dollars' worth 
of property was condemned to make way for this splen- 
did street. It cuts across a peninsula through the heart 
of the city from ghore to shore, and is magnificent, 
indeed, with its sidewalks wrought in beautiful geo- 
metrical designs, with its ornate street lamps, with its 
generous width appearing broader by contrast with 
other narrow streets, with its modern buildings. 

There is another street, however, which is dearer to 
the Brazilian than the Avenida. He takes great pride 
in the Avenida, but he has peculiar affection for the 
Rua d'Ouvidor. Down the Ouvidor flows a human 
tide such as is found nowhere else in Brazil. No one 
attempts to keep on the pavement. The street is given 
over entirely to pedestrians. No vehicle ever passes 
down it until after midnight. In this narrow street, 
with its attractive ^hops filled with the highest-priced 
goods in ^the world, you can soon find anyone you 
wish to meet, becaiL-^o before Ions everyone who can 
reacfh it will pa^ through. In this street the happy, 
jesting, jostling crowd is in one continuous '^festa^'. 

In passing through the city one is greatly impressed 
by the number of parks and beautiful public squares, 
and in particular with the wonderful Beiramar, which 
is a combination of promenades, driveways and park 
effects that stretches for miles along the shore of tihe 
bay. What a thing of beauty this last-named park is ! 
There is nothing comparable to it anywhere. When 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 17 

Rio wishes to go on a grand "passeio" (promenade) 
nothing but the grand Beiramar will suffice. 

One cannot help being impressed also by the preva- 
lence of coffee-drinking stands and stores — especially 
if he meets many friends. These friends will insist 
upon taking him into a coffee stand and engaging him 
in conversation while they sip coffee. On many cor- 
ners are little round or octagonal pagoda-like structures 
in which coffee and cakes are sold. The coffee-drinking 
places are everywhere and most of them are usually 
filled. The practice of taking coffee with one's friends 
must lessen materially the amount of strong drink 
consumed by the Brazilian. Nevertheless, that amount 
of strong drink is, alas, altogether too great. 

The greatest nuisance on the streets of Rio, or any 
other city of Brazil, is the lottery ticket seller. These 
venders are more numerous and more insistent than 
are the newsboys in the United States. There are all 
sorts of superstitions about lotteries. Certain images 
in one's dreams at night are said to correspond to 
certain lucky numbers. Dogs, cats, horses, cows and 
many other animals have certain numbers correspond- 
ing to them. For instance, if one should dream to- 
night about a dog, he would try tomorrow to find a 
lottery ticket to correspond in number with a dog. 
Say the dog number was thirty-seven. This man 
would try to find a ticket whose number ends in thirty- 
seven. Such a ticket would be considered lucky. The 
ticket sellers often call out as they pass along the street 
the la^ two numbers on the tickets they have to sell, 
and if a man hears the number called which corre- 
sponds to the animal he dreamed about last night, he 



18 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

will consider it lucky and buy. There are also many 
shops where only lottery tickets are sold. No evil has 
more tenaciously and universally fastened upon the 
people than has the evil of gambling in lotteries. There 
are 310 Federal lotteries, besides many others run by 
the various States. These 310 lotteries receive in pre- 
miums the enormous sum of $19,399,200 every month 
— about one dollar for every individual in Brazil. A 
portion of the profits amassed by the lottery companies 
is devoted to charity, a portion to Roman Catholic 
churches and a portion goes to the government. Even 
after these amounts are taken out, there is ample left 
for the enrichment of the companies' coffers to the 
impoverishment of many very needy working people. 
It is difficult to write temperately of Rio de Janeiro. 
There is such a rare combination here of the primitive 
and the progressive, of the oriental and occidental, 
that one is inclined to go off into exclamation points. 
On the Avenida Central one sees numbers of street 
venders carrying all kinds of wares on their heads and 
pulling all sorts of carts, making their way in and out 
among the automobiles, and handsome victorias pulled 
by mules. We note also all types of people. The Latin 
features predominate, but the negro is in evidence, the 
Indian features are often recognized, and mingled 
with these are seen faces representing all nations. One 
is impressed with the dress of the people. Who is that 
handsomely-groomed gentleman passing? From his 
fine clothes you think he must be a man of wealth and 
influence. Who is he? He is a barber. That one over 
there is a clerk. But why these fine clothes? Ah! 
thereby hangs the tale. Appearance is worshiped. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 19 

Parade runs through everything, even in the prevailing 
religion, which, alas, is little mbre than form — parade. 
Don't get the idea that everybody is finely dressed and 
that every handsomely-dressed man is a barber. Many 
are able to afford such clothes and are cultured gen- 
tlemen. One notices most the dress of the lower classes, 
the most striking article of which is the wooden-bottom 
sandals into which they thrust their toes and go flap- 
ping along in imminent peril of losing the slippers 
every moment. The remainder of the clothing worn 
by these beslippered people consists often of only two 
thin garments. Certainly this is a place of great con- 
trasts. But somehow these contrasts do not impress 
one as being incongruous. They are in perfect keeping 
with their surroundings. Rio is really a cosmopolitan 
city and is a pleasant blending of the old and the new. 
There are several places from which splendid views 
of the city can be had, but none of them is compara- 
ble to the panorama which stretches out before one 
when he stands on the top of Mt. Corcovado. The 
scene which greets one from this mountain is inde- 
scribable. The Bay of Rio de Janeiro, with its eighty 
islands. Sugar Loaf Mountain, a bare rock standing 
at the entrance, the city winding its tortuous way in 
and out between the mountains and spreading itself 
over many hills, the open sea in the distance and the 
\\dld mountain scenery to the back of us, constitute a 
panorama surpa^ingly beautiful. 

Nictheroy lies just across the bay. We went over 
there one night and spoke in the rented hall where 
our church worships, and spent the night in the de- 
lightful home of the Entzmingers. The next morn- 



20 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

ing, before breakfast, Dr. Entzminger showed me over 
the city. Nictheroy has forty thousand inhabitants 
and is the capital of the State of Rio de Janeiro. It is 
a beautiful city and offers a wide field for missionary 
work. Its importance is apparent. 

We have a church in the populous suburb of Engen- 
ho de Dlentro. We were present there at a great cele- 
bration when the church cleared off the remainder of 
its debt and burned the notes. The building was 
crowded to its utmost capacity. The people stood in 
the aisles from the rear to the pulpit. They filled the 
little rooms behind the pulpit and occupied space about 
the windows. There are about seventy members of 
the church. A far greater progress should be made 
now that the debt as well as other encumbrances have 
been removed. 

There are in Rio the First, Engenho de Dentro, Gov- 
ernors Island and Santa Cruz churches, and twelve 
preaching places, four of which are in rented halls. 
Missionary Maddox utilizes many mjembers of the 
churches in providing preaching at these missions. 
There are only a very few paid evangelists in this mis- 
sion, but a great m^any church members are glad to go 
to these stations and tell the gospel story. 

Besides our Baptist work, the Southern Methodists 
are conducting a very prosperous mission. They have 
several churches and a station for settlement work. The 
Presbyterians and the Congregationalists have some 
excellent churches and the Y. M. C. A. is one of the 
most flourishing in South America. 



CHAPTER III. 

A VISIT TO A COUNTKY CHUKCH. 

That I may give you a glimpse of the country life 
in Brazil, and also some impression of country mission 
work, I invite you to take a trip with Mi^ionary Mad- 
dux and myself to the little hamlet of Parahyba do 
Sul, in the interior of the State of Rio. 

On Monday, June 13th, we boarded a six a. m. train 
for Parahyba do Sul, which we reached about ten 
o'clock. It is a charming town situated on the river 
by the same name. This river reminds one of the 
French Broad, though the mountains are not so high 
and precipitous as the North Carolina mountains. The 
mountains, too, in this section are not covered with 
trees, but with a tall grass, which, being in bloom, 
gave a beautiful purple color to the landscape. The 
railroad climbs up the mountain sides from Rio in a 
very picturesque manner. 

The Parahyba do Sul Church is three miles over 
the mountains from the station, in the house of Mrs. 
Manoela Rosa Rodrigues. The house is constructed 
Tvdth mud walls and a thatched roof. The floors are 
the bare ground, which is packed hard and smooth. 
There are two rooms, with a narrow hall between them 
and a sort of ''lean to" kitchen. The largest room, 
which is about fifteen feet square, is devoted to the 



22 BEAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

church. The most prominent piece of furniture in the 
house is the pulpit, which stands in this room. This 
pulpit is large out of all proportion to everything else 
about the place. It was covered over with a beautiful- 
ly embroidered altar piece. The two chairs placed for 
Brother IMaddox and myself were also entirely cov- 
ered with crocheted Brazilian lace. I hesitated to oc- 
cupy such a daintily decorated seat. 

This church of forty-six members maintains three 
Sunday schools in the adjoining country and six 
preaching stations, members of the church doing the 
preaching. Every member gives to the college in Rio 
200 rets (six cents) a month, and to missions, etc., 300 
reis (nine cents) per month. This is munificent lib- 
erality when we take into consideration their exhaust- 
ing poverty. 

Our coming was a great event with them. We were 
met at the station by a member of the church, who 
mounted us on a gray pony apiece and soon had us on 
our way. He walked, and with his pacing sort of stride 
he easily kept up with us. His feet were innocent of 
shoes. He says he does not like shoes because they in- 
terfere with his walking. Underneath that dilapidated 
hat and those somewhat seedy clothes we found a 
warm-hearted Christian, who serves the Lord with pas- 
sionate devotion. He often preaches, though he has 
\eTY little learning. He is mighty in the Scriptures, 
having committed to memory large sections of them, 
and has a genuine experience of grace to which he 
bears testimony with, great power. 

We arrived at the church about eleven o'clock. We 
were received with expressions of great joy. Mrs. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 23 

Manoela was so happy over our coming that she em- 
braced us in true Brazilian style. We were shown into 
our room, where we refreshed ourselves by brushing 
off the dust and bathing. How spick and span clean 
was everything in that room, even to the dirt floor I 

Before we had completed our ablutions, the good 
womian of the house called Malddox out and asked 
what she could cook for me. She thought I could not 
eat Brazilian dishes. He told her, to her great rehef, 
that I could eat anything he could. Quite right he 
was, too, for we had been traveling all the morning 
on the sustenance furnished by a cup of coffee which 
we had taken at the Rio station a little before six 
o'clock. We were in possession of an appetite by this 
time that would have raised very few questions about 
any article of food. 

Soon we were seated at the breakfast table, whidh 
was placed in the church room with benches around it 
foT seats. I was honored by being placed at one end 
of the table. What a meal it was ! Not only had Mrs. 
Manoela taxed her own larder, but the other mem- 
bers, who by this time had arrived in large numbers, 
had brought in many good things. I cannot tell what 
the dis.hes were, for the reason that I do not know. 
It is sufficient to say that every one was good — perhaps 
our appetite helped out our appreciation of some of 
themi. There were as many as ^ight dishes! the like of 
which I had never tasted before. How do you suppose 
I managed it when they served some delicious cane 
molasses, and, instead of bread to go with it, they 
served cream cheese? I asked Maddox how I should 
work this combination. He replied by cutting up his 



24 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

cheese into his plate of molasses and eating the mix- 
ture. I did the same thing, and I bear testimony that 
it was fine. By the time the breakfast was con- 
cluded, I had scored a point with our good friends, 
for they thought that a stranger who could render 
such a good account of himself at a Brazilian break- 
fast must be very much like themselves. (Let us ex- 
plain about Brazilian meals: They take coffee in the 
early morning. Bread and butter is served with the 
coffee. Breakfast, which is a very substantial meal, is 
serv^ed about eleven o'clock. Dinner, which is the 
chief meal of the day, is served about five o'clock in 
the afternoon. At bedtime ligfht refreshments are 
served, which are often substantial enough to make 
another meal). 

After breakfast was over, and it was some time 
before it was over, for the crowd had to be fed, we 
assembled for worship. The congregation was too 
large for the little room, so the men built a beautiful 
arbor out of bamboo cane. When Maddox told me 
we were to hold services under an arbor I was dissap- 
pointed, for somehow there had comie over me a great 
desire to speak from that large pulpit in the little 
room. My dissappointment was short-lived, however, 
for when we reached the arbor there were the pulpit 
and the lace-covered chairs! It was a gracious service. 
The Spirit of the Lord was upon us. The sermon 
lost none of its effect from the fact that it had to be 
interpreted, because Maddox interpreted it with sym- 
pathy and power. 

After preaching, four were received for baptism. 
They were not converted at this service, but had been 



BEAZILIAN SKETCHES. 25 

expecting to come for some time. Maddox baptized 
them in the spring branch, which had been deepened 
by a temporary dam being thrown across it. One of 
those baptized was a woman ninety years of age. 

Our time was growing short now. Maddox changed 
his clothes in a hurry. We had to catch the four 
o'clock train. We did stop long enough to drink a cup 
of Brazilian coffee. Such coffee! I will not attempt 
to describe it, because our friends in the States can not 
understand. There is nothing like it in this coun- 
try. We took time, too, to say good-bye. The whole 
crowd lined up and we went the length of the line, 
bidding everyone a hearty godspeed. The Brazilian 
not only shak^ hands with you, but he embraces 
you heartily. Yes, some of the good matrons em- 
braced us. It was a novel experience for me, but a 
mere custom with them, and the act was pcrfonned 
with such modest restraint that any possible objec- 
tionable features were eliminated. Having said good- 
bye to them all we mounted our gray ponies, and, 
led by our barefooted friend, rode away with thanks- 
giving in our hearts for the good fellows^hip with the 
saints of Parahyba do Sul. 

The tie of love for a common Lord had bound our 
afiFections to them. Their simple-hearted sincerity and 
devotion had helped us. Their zeal had contributed 
to our faith. One incident touched me especially. 
Just before breakfast a little girl about four years of 
age, led by her motiher, brought to us a package con- 
taining some Brazilian cakes. When we opened the 
package there lay on top a piece of folded paper on 
which was written: ^'How beiautiful upon the moun- 



26 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

tains are ttie feet of 'him that bringeth good tidings, 
that pu'blisheth peace, that bringeth good, tidings of 
good, that publi^heth salvation, that saith unto Zion, 
thy God reignetlh' '(Isa. 52:7). Presented to our 
brother pastors, Maddox and Ray by Archimina 
Nunes.'^ Instantly there arose in my heart the 
prayer that God would speed the day when his swift- 
footed messengers shall publish the good tidings of 
peace to all this vast and needy land. 



CHAPTER IV. 

TWO PKESIDENTS. 

It was our good fortune while in Rio to be received 
by the President of the Republic, Dr. Nilo Pecanha. 
Misisionaries Shepard, Langston and Gin^burg and 
Dr. Nogueira Paranagua escorted me. When we 
started I suggested that we take a street car. Not so 
those Brazilians! We must go in an automobile. We 
were very careful to wear our Prince Albert coats, too; 
for, aibove all things, the Brazilian is a m'aster in 
punctilious ceremonies. We were ushered into the 
waiting room by a doorkeeper, a finely-liveried mulatto 
with a large chain around his shoulders to indicate 
his authority. The waiting room, was full of people, 
but we were not kept waiting long. We sent in our 
cards and soon we heard our names announced and 
we were led into the presence of the private secretary. 
After a few words of explanation by Dr. Paranagua, 
the secretary retired to ask the President if he would 
see us. He returned presently and showed us into the 
audience chamber, which was a large and tastefully 
decorated room. Around the walls were several groups 
of chairs, placed in true Brazilian style somewhat as 
follows: A cane-bottoimed divan was set with, itsi back 
to the wall, then several cane-bottomed chairs were 
placed at right angles to it in two rows facing each 



28 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

other, usually four in a row. The President guided 
me between these chairs and took a seat on the divan 
and motioned me to a seat by his side. He is a man of 
slight build, with a mild expre^ion which wins confi- 
dence. He was most informal in his speech and spoke 
in a candid and unresen^ed manner which quickly 
put us at ease. 

I told him, through an interpreter, that we had come 
from a visit to the Minister of the Interior, with whom 
we had been in conference about the status of Brazil- 
ian schools. The President expressed his great pleas- 
ure over our coming to see him and said that he hajd 
personal knowledge of what our denomination is doing 
and of some of the workers. He was satisfied that 
our object was altruistic and for the good of the coun- 
try and people; that so far as depended upon him, 
he was ready to give us the full benefit of his official 
position. As proof of his wish to see absolute reli- 
gious freedom, he cited an instance of how he had 
protected some monks in the Amazon Valley recently. 
These men were in straits and he had sent soldiers 
to liberate them, and then turning with a smile to 
Ginsburg, he said that he also never abandoned his 
friend Solomon when he was attacked. He refreshed 
our minds upon the fact that lately, w'hen certain 
priests in the city of Rio had attempted to resist the 
government over a disputed piece of property which had 
been granted them under the old regime, he gave them 
to understand that if they did not behave themselves, 
the door was open and they could leave the country. 
They soon came to terms. As to his successor, ttie 
President said that the incoming President was of the 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 29 

same party and would carry out the same policies, ideas 
and ideals. These policies meant absolute liberty of 
thought, conscience and speech, which is guaranteed 
by the conigtitution. Before the interview closed, he 
again expressed his pleasure at receiving a represen- 
tative of an American institution, convinced as he was 
that the propaganda of our schools, morals ajid ideals 
would draw the two nations closer together, and that he 
was ready to encourage us to that end. '^We are fol- 
lowing the ideals of the United States", he said, ^ 'which 
we recognize as our elder sister." He expressed pecul- 
iar pleasure over the prospect of our establishing a col- 
lege and he a^ured us that the Brazilian government 
would put no obstacle in the way of our purpose, but 
that it would do all in its power, on the other hand, 
to encourage us. 

While we are meeting Presidents, I would like to 
introduce you to another one upon whom the salvation 
of Brazil depends m'ore largely than it does upon any 
occupant of the chair of chief magistrate. It is possi- 
ble for the man who has been elevated by the ballots 
of his people to sen^e in a large way the moral good 
of his people and we thank God for all rulers who 
rule with justice and liberality in the interest of liberty 
and the common good. But far greater and far more 
serviceable than these are those choice spirits who, by 
embracing the gospel of Christ, give themselves devout- 
ly to bringing in His reign in the hearts of men. Such 
spirits, by the sheer force of their characters, wield 
a far more abiding influence for the help of their fel- 
lows. The man I wish to introduce is Dr. Nogueira 



30 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

Paranagua, the President of the Brazilian Baptist Con- 
vention. 

He belongs to one of the oldest and most aristocratic 
families of the State of Piauhy. He was Governor 
of his state at the time of the institution of the Repub- 
lic. After the establishment oi the Republic, he was 
elected to the National Congress for a term, of four 
years. Then he was elected to the Senate and serv^ed 
nine years. He is a skilled physician and is married 
to a Swiss lady of fine family. His family connec- 
tions occupy one quarter of the State of Piauhy. He 
is, at the present time, Treasurer of the National Print- 
ing Concern, which does not occupy all of his time. 
The remainder of his time he devotes to the practice 
of his profession and to the preaching of the gospel. 
He is a deacon in the First church in Rio. He is not 
an ordained tminister — ^he is simply an humble man of 
God. He is an ardent patriot who believes that the 
salvation of Brazil can be realized only through the 
gospel of Christ, to which he gives his life and all. 

Now I, for one, believe that the theory of Dr. No- 
gueira is the one that will finally lead Brazil into the 
fullness of life and power it is capable of attaining. 
It is well to have written in the constitution the guar- 
antee of religious and political liberty. It is well to 
have Presidents who courageously carry into effect the 
provisions of this constitution, but the highest good 
is not attained until behind all documentary guaran- 
tees is a personal righteousness in the people. Dr. 
Nogueira's insistent advocacy of Christ for Brazil is the 
one thing that gives assurance of a genuine righteous- 
ness that will exalt the nation. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 31 

He is the President of a remarkable body. It was our 
privilege to attend the Brazilian Baptist Convention 
which met in Sao Paulo, June, 1910. It was com- 
posed of sixty delegates, about one third of whom were 
missionaries. The remainder were natives. They 
came from all parts of Brazil. One man from the Ma- 
deira Valley traveled three weeks on his journey to 
Sao Paulo. They represented 109 churdhes, Which had 
a total membership of 7,000. These churches increased 
by baptism twenty-five per cent, last year. They main- 
tain a boys' school and a theological school at Pernam- 
buco, a school for boys and girls at Bahia, a boys' 
school at Nova Friburgo, a girls' school at Sao Paulo 
and the crown of the school system, the Pio Baptist 
College and Seminary in the capital. They have a 
Publication Board to produce Sunday School anci 
other literature, a Homie Mission Board to develop the 
mission^ary work in the bounds of Brazil, and a For- 
eign Mission Bo'ajd, which conducts foreign mission 
operations in Chili and Portugal. While their coun- 
try is so needy, they believe in the principle of for- 
eign missio'ns so thoroughly that they gave last year 
for foreign missions as much per capita as did the 
churches in the bounds of the Southern Baptist Con- 
vention. One night during the Convention, I ad- 
dressed them upon the subject of foreign missions, 
and after I had finished speaking one of the mission- 
aries came forward and said he had thought that inas- 
much as he ^h-ad given his life to foreign mission 
work, he was not under any special obligation to con- 
tribute money to this cause, but now he saw his error 



32 BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

and proposed to give as a means of grace and in order 
to discharge his duty to the larger cause. 

What a privilege it was to attend this Convention! 
All of us took our meals at the Girls' College and by 
this arrangement we had a most delightful time so- 
cially. It is a fine body full of good cheer, hope, faith, 
courage, consecration. To come to know them — mis- 
sionaries and native Christians alike- — is to enter into 
fellowship with some of the choicest and most indomi- 
table spirits that have ever adorned the Kingdom of 
our Lord. 




AVEXIDA CENTRAL, EIO 
MARKET, INTERIOR TOWN 
STREET MERCHANT 



BURDEN BEARER 
EUA D' OYIDOR 
VICTORIA 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GOSPEL WITHHELD. 

When I went to South America I decided that I 
would spend little time upon the material aspects of 
the trip, but would, on the other hand, attempt to 
'arrive at an understanding of the religious conditions 
and needs of the people. I consider that the religious 
needs are the abiding and vital interests of any people. 

I knew also that Brazil is counted as being a Roman 
Catholic countr}^ and the consideration at once arose 
in connection T\ith this fact as to whether this reli- 
gion affected the life and thought of the people suffi- 
ciently to satisfy their religious needs. If it does, 
then let us be honest enough to recognize it, and if 
it does not, let us be courageous enough to assimie 
our responsibility towards it for we mnst hold that the 
great justification for missionary effort is the evangel- 
ical and not the polemical one. If there is no greater 
reason for onr entering a country than for the pur- 
pose of fighting the Catholics, then I, for one, am fran-k 
to say that I do not think we ought to spend our ener- 
gies in any such field. The question for us to settle 
is whether there is a real call for the preaching of the 
gospel in a given country. That question can be an- 
swered only by a candid consideration of the facts in 
the case and not by the bigoted notion that all who do 



34 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

not agree with us are to 'be driven from tlie face of the 
earth. 

What is the religious status of Brazil? Is there any 
call for Protestant effort? I answer after giving serious 
study to this question, and after personal observation 
of the effects of the religious practices upon the people, 
that there is the same imperative call for missionary 
effort in Brazil that comes from China or any other 
heathen country, viz., the gospel is not preached to the 
people. 

The priests hold services, to be sure, in the churches, 
but there are many churches in Brazil in which there 
has been no pretend Of preaching a sermon within five 
years. The priests do not preach. They say mass, 
read prayers and sing songs in Latin, a language whicih 
is not understood by the people. Occasionally, a Cath- 
olic fraternity will invite a special orator to preach a 
sermon upon some great feast day. This visiting 
brother does not preach. His theme upon such an oc- 
casion would either be a discussion of the special saint 
whose day is being celebrated, or he would speak upon 
some civic question which had more or less to do with 
the moral or political life of the people. In the inter- 
ior these special occasions occur only once every two to 
five years, so that even this semblance of a sermon 
comes rarely. In the cities these special addresses are 
made on one saint's day each year or on some special 
anniversary, or when some dignitary is making a visit. 
Usually this dignitary will say a mass and not preach. 
When one of these special days occurs the preaching is 
not heard very extensively for the reason that the noise 
and commotion about the stalls for gambling, drinking 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 35 

and other attractions is sufficient to drown the voice 
of the speaker. These side-show attractions fill all 
available space about the building, giving it the appear- 
ance of a circus more then anything else. They are 
run by individuals who pay a tax to the church for the 
privilege. The preaching is not the feature of the 
day, the chief object seeming to be to furnish amuse- 
ment for the people and money for the church. It 
cannot be said that on such days the gospel can possi- 
bly be preached successfully. 

Occasionally there is held in the church What is 
called a special mission. This is conducted by visit- 
ing monks. We would expect that on such occasions 
the gospel would be preached, but such is not the case. 
They hear confessions in the morning. A special 
premium is placed upon the celebration of marriages 
during the mission, because these visiting monks will 
make a cheaper rate than the resident priests. For 
this rea^n the majority of the priests do not like to 
have these monks come in for special missions, and 
would not conduct them but for the fact that the bish- 
op compels them to do so. The addresses delivered 
by the monks in these special missions are not ser- 
mons. They either upbraid the Prote^ants, speak 
against civil marriage (the only legal marriage in 
Brazil is that performed by a civil officer), inveigh 
against the Republic, discourse upon the lives of the 
saints, assail Luther and other reformers, or oirge 
confession, penance and submission to the Pope. 

Furthermore, the Bible is withheld from the people. 
The circulation of no book is so bitterly opposed as 
that of the Bible. It is true that the Franciscan 



36 BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

monks are trying to introduce an edition of the New 
Testament which contains special comments attaicking 
Protestants. These special editions are very expen- 
sive and difficult to secure. The person who wishes to 
buy one of these Bibles must get permission from the 
vicar of his parish, and if the would-be purchaser is 
inclined towards Protestantism, the vicar will refuse 
to grant permission. The priests are not very much 
in sympathy with the idea of edrculating even this 
annotated edition of the New Testament. 

In Armagoza, near Bahia, the Franciscan monks 
fceld, three or four years ago, a mission and sold about 
1,000 of these Catholic Scriptures. It seems that the 
Protestants had also been circulating a Testament 
which had the same general appearance as that sold by 
the Franciscan monks. When the monks had sold out 
their supplies, they heard of what the Protestants had 
done and inasmuch as the people could not distinguish 
between the true book and the false, they ordered the 
people to bring back all of the books to the monks, 
under the promise that they would examine them, 
eliminate the Protestant book and return to the owners 
the authorized Bible. The people brought back their 
books in good faith. The monks took them, but never 
returned them. Neither did they return the money. 

On the 22nd of February, 1903, there occurred a 
public burning of Bibles in Pernambuco. This was 
done in defiance of the Protestant work with the evi- 
dent purpose of intimidating the Protestant workers 
and arousing a public sentiment against them. 

But having failed in this, their first effort, they de- 
cided to try another even more ostentatious. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 37 

Akhough it is illegal to burn any religious docu- 
ment publicly, yet the first burning passed unnoticed 
by the officials of the law. But not so the second. 

Having incurred the censure and ill-will of many of 
the most thoughtful and liberal-minded, even of the 
Catholics themselves, by the disgrace of February 22nd, 
the directors of the Anti-Protestant League decided to 
make a grand rally on the occasion of the leaguers 
first lanniversary, September 27th. And to realize this, 
they published about two weeks beforehand a very ex- 
tensive program. The program said tfhat ^^there will 
be burned 26 Bibles, 42 Test.aments, 45 copies of the 
Gospel of Mattthew, Luke 9, John 12, Mark 4 and Acts 
9", besides a great many other useful books. In the 
list also there were some three hundred copies^ of differ- 
ent religious Protestant papers. 

According to the program the bishop was to preside. 
The public burning, however, was' not performed. Such 
pressure was brought to bear upon the officials that 
they interfered. It was even discussed in the National 
Plouse of Congress. But in spite of all opposition, 
not tO' be completely defeated, they burned the Bibles 
in the back yard of the ichurch. 

These examples are sufficient to demonstrate the 
attitude of the priests towards the Scriptures, and we 
must concede that any church or set of men who' by 
such methods withhold from the people the Word of 
God cannot be said to preach the gospel. He is an 
enemy of the gospel who puts any restraint upon the 
ciroulati'on of the Scriptures. It is wise indeed for the 
sake of their cause that these opponents of Protestant- 
ism 'Should oppose the circulation of the Scriptures, for 



38 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

we shiall "cite numierous instances of bow tlhe Bible un- 
aided has broken down Eomisili superstition and 
tumod men from dark error into the ligbt of the glo. 
rious gospel of Jesus. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SAINT WORSHIP. 



What is tOie real religion of the Brazilians? It is 
more a saint worship than anything else. Saint wor- 
ship is at its core. Mary is the chief saint. All pray- 
ers are made to her. She is the intercessor. The 
Litany is all addresseed to Mary. It runs, "Oh Mary, 
hear us, etc." She is worshiped under different aspects 
— Mary of the Sailors, Mary of the Conception, Mary 
of the Candles, Mary of the Rosary, ad infinitum. 
Even Christ is worshiped as a saint. The patron saint 
of Campos, for instance, is called Sqjo Salvador ( St. 
Savior). The city of Bahia is called Sao Salvador. 
Its patron saint is Jesus. 

A saint is an intercessor between man and God. 
Because of his holiness, he has favor with God, and 
therefore the people pray to him. Very few consider 
the saint lower than God. They offer sacrifices, make 
prayers and burn candles to the saint. 

St. Anthony of Padua is a very hard-worked saint. 
He has placed upon him the double duty of furnishing 
suitors for all the young women and of leading the 
armies of the Republic to victory. No wonder this 
overworked saint gets into trouble. Young women 
place him in their rooms, burn candles and offer pray- 
ers before him. He is dressed up in the finest toggery 



40 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

and is given great honor. If, however, after awhile 
he does not bring along the suitor, he is given a sound 
beating, or he may be hung head downwards in a well 
or stood on his head under a table. These indignities 
are heaped upon him in order to forc€ him to produce 
the suitor which the young lady very much desires. 
He is also the military saint. In the time of the Em- 
pire, he was carried a;t the head of the army and had 
the rank of a colonel. Even after the Empire was 
abolished, he retained his rank for many years and 
received from the government the salarv^ of a colonel. 
Such an idol was in Bahia and his salary^ was discon- 
tinued only five years ago. The money went, of course, 
to the priest in the church where the image was kept. 

Every town, village and country seat has its pro- 
tecting saint. In time of drouth they in many places 
carry the saint through the streets in procession. He 
is taken from his place in the church to some hut, 
maybe, where he is placed beneath the altar. Thib 
is done in order to cause him to bring rain. After the 
rain comes he is taken out and with great distinction 
is replaced in his original niche. They do this some- 
times in the case of a scourge of insects or disease. 

Late one evening, after ^lissionary Ginsburg and I 
had returned from a trip into the interior of the State 
of Bahia, we arrived in the city of Nazareth. It is a 
town of about 10,000 inhabitants. We were to wait 
here until the following morning for the boat which 
was to take us to Bahia. 

As we went down the street we saw a great throng 
of people surging about an image which was being 
carried upon the shoulders of some men. Two priests 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 41 

walked in front to direct the movemlents of the procesn 
sion. More than half of the people in the city must 
have been in the procession. They paraded far out 
into the country, crossed to the opposite side of the 
river, wound themselves back and forth through tlhe 
narrow sftreets until a late hour at night. At eleven 
o'clock just before we retired, we stood for some time 
watching the procession pass the hotel where we were 
stopping. It was a miserably ugly little im'age, gaudily 
decorated. It was being paraded through the streets 
for the purpose of staying the plague of smallpox, 
which Qjt that time Was scourging the town. When we 
saw the procession last it had been augmented by 
such numbers that it appeared as if the entire city 
was following this image. They seemed to believe 
that it could really dharm away the smallpox. 

This is not an isolated case. It is typical. Every 
patron saint has laid upon him at times the responsi- 
bility of breaking a drouth or the effects of a dreadful 
scourge which may be afflicting the people. It is th,e 
veriest sort of idolatry. 

One of the most pitiful exhibitions of superstition 
to be found in Brazil is that in connection with the 
many shrines to which pilgrimages are made by thou- 
sands of people and at which places great miracles are 
supposed to be performed. In Bahia there is a famous 
shrine called Bom Fim (Good End). It is located 
on a hill in the suburbs of the city. Years ago tradi- 
tion has it, the image of San Salvador was found on 
the summit of tihis hill. A priest took charge of the 
image and removed it to a church. On the following 
morning the image was missing, and upon going to 



42 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

the spot where he first found it, he discovered the 
imiage. Again he took it to the church, and again on 
the following day, he found the image at the original 
place. The tradition was, therefore, started that the 
image had fallen from Heaven to the top of the hill, 
and every time it was removed from this spot it, 
of itself, returned. So it was taken for granted that 
the image desired its s^hrine built on this spot. At 
first there was a little shrine constructed, and afterward 
was built the magnificent edifice which now shelters 
the imiage. 

To this place the thousands go annually upon pil- 
grimages. One of the most gruesome spectacles to be 
found anywhere is in a side room near the altar. From 
the ceiling are suspended wax and plaster of paris re- 
productions called ex-votos of literally every portion 
of the body — feet, hands, limbs, heads, all portions — 
the ceiling space is completely covered with these un- 
canny figures. The wall is hung with pictures, which 
portray all sorts of scenes, such as a man in shipwreck, 
a carpenter falling down a ladder, a child falling out of 
a second-story window, death chambers of various 
people, etc. These figures and pictures are intended 
to represent miracles. When these people were in their 
afflictions they prayed to the im^age of the Good End 
and made a, promise that if they should recover they 
would bring one of these votive offerings of the part 
affected, whether of man or beast, to the shrine. 'Some 
of them came before the cure was effected, and with 
a prayer, left the image behind and the cures of their 
disease or afflicftions were 'attributed to the image of 
Bom Fim. It is said that when this church is given 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 43 

its annual cleaning, just before the celebration of the 
saint's day, thousands of people congrega^te here, roll 
in the waters which are used to wash out the building, 
and drink the filthy stufiP, deeming it to be holy. 
There is hardly a more revolting scene to be found any- 
where, and all in the namie of religion. Until recently, 
when the police put an end to it, a most disgusting 
species of holy dance was observed on this annual day 
in which the most sensual practices were indulged. 

Perhaps the most famous shrine in all Brazil is in 
the far interior of the State of Bahia on the San Fran- 
cisco River. It is the famous Lapa. The image has 
its shrine in a cave in a very remarkable geological 
formation. One hundred thousand people make pil- 
grimages to this shrine every year from all of the States 
in Brazil. The last Emperor himself made a visit to 
this shrine. Fromi June to August of last year $20,000 
was collected from the pilgrims. Our missionary, Jack- 
son, met a man who had been on the way six months. 
It required him( a year to make tihis trip. The same 
missionary saw a family from the State of Alagoas 
which had been on the journey six weeks. Da*. Z. C. 
Taylor says he passed through sections that had been 
almost depopulated because the men had sold out their 
homes, horses and cattle in order to seek a miracle in 
their favor at this siame shrine. Fire destroyed the 
image in 1902. Protestants were accused of setting 
fire to it because a missionary was near at the time. 
(He was forty miles away.) In the controversy thait 
arose the missionary noted that, inasmuk^h as the new 
image was sent by freight and not by ticket, it must 
be an idol and not a saint. Suffice it to say, that a new 



44 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

image was placed and the people are worshiping it 
with 'the same zeal with which they worshiped the 
old, even though the now one came by freight and the 
old one was supposed to have fallen from Heaven. It 
it believed to have miracle working power and to give 
great merit to one who makes the pilgrimage tO' it. 

In the daily paper called the ^Trovinca/' published 
in Pemambuco, there was printed on August 23, 1910, 
the following telegram from! the city of Rio, the capital 
of the Republic: 

^'The Seculo (Century) of today announces that 
on St. Leopold street in Andarahy (a suburb of Rio) 
there was discovered a fountain of water in a hollow 
rock, in which a plebian found an image of a saimt. 

''This image," adds the Seculo, ''although in water, 
did not present the least vestige of humidity. The 
newg of this curious discovery was immediately circu- 
lated, and there was a great pilgrimage, including a 
reporter of the Seculo, to this miraculous fountain in 
Andarahy." 

It is ver}^ probable that this telegram heralds the 
advent of a new shrine, because it is in this fashion 
that these so-called miracle-working shrines are brought 
into existence. 

Not all of these shrines are canonized, but neverthe- 
le^ they have power over the people. As we were 
mjaking a trip into the interior of the State of Per- 
nambuco we passed a station called Severino. Near the 
station we could see a splendid church building whidh 
had been constructed in honor of St. Severino. This 
saint is not in the calendar, not recognized by the 
dhurch nor the bishop, yet it is popular all over Brazil. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 45 

Many people are named after him, and to this shrine 
are brought many of the same sort of things as were 
da^cribed in connection with the shrine of the Good 
End. This idol is stuffed with sugar-cane pith. The 
head of it was found in the woods some time ago. A 
tradition was started that an image had fallen from 
Heaven. The superstitious people believed the report 
and soon a shrine was in full operation, which today, 
even though it be not canonized, is exerting a far- 
reaching influence. The owner of the shrine gave up 
his farming and lives handsomely on the offerings 
the deluded bring to his private shrine. 

In one of the most magnificent churches in Bahia 
is an image of a negro saint. This holy being won 
his canonization as a reward for stealing money from 
his master to contribute to the church. That is it: 
Do anything you please, provided you share the spoils 
with the church. 

Across the breast of the Virgin's image in the church 
of Our Lady of Penha in Pernambuco, before which 
church the Bibles were burned in 1903, are written 
the following words: ^'One hundred days' indulgence 
to the person who will kiss the holy foot of the Holy 
Virgin." This pitifully expresses, perhaps, the thought 
behind saint worship. It is the hope that the aching 
of the sinful heart may find some a&suagement through 
th-e worship of these gilded, gaudy images. It is 
claim'ed by the priests and some of the more intelligent 
that the image w^orshiped is only a concrete repre- 
sentation of the saint, and it contains symbolically 
the spirit of the saint. To be sure! This is exactly 
the reason the more intelligent fetish worshiper in 



46 BRAZILIAN; SKETCHES. 

Africa assigns for worshiping his hand-made god. The 
etone or piece of wood is a representative of God and to 
a degree contains His spirit. Such worship is con- 
demned as being idolatn^ in the African. The thing 
which is idolatr}^ in the African must be idolatry in 
the CathoHc. Even the Cathohcs will condemn the idol 
worship of the heathen, and yet this same Catholic 
church has in scores of places in South America and 
in other heathen lands, taken the identical images 
worshiped by the heathen and converted them into 
Catholic saints. 

In the city of Braga, in Portugal, is a temple which 
centuries ago was devoted to Jupiter. It was after- 
ward converted into a Catholic church and dedicated 
to St. Peter. The idol Jupiter, with two keys in his 
hand, was consecrated into St. Peter. In another part 
of the same city is a temple devoted to Janus in Roman 
times, which was turned into a temple dedicated to St. 
John. The idol which formerly was worshiped as 
Janus is being now worshiped as St. John. In the 
same temple there is an image now consecrated as St. 
Mark which was formerly the god Mars. The saint 
worship in Brazil is just as heathenish. In China 
Buddhist idols were renamed Jehosaphat by the Jesuits 
and worshiped. Their practices in Brazil are in keep- 
ing with their methods in other lands. 

What is the difference between a worshiper who 
thus seeks indulgence through the worship of an image 
in Brazil and a like worshiper with a like soul need 
bowing before a similar wooden image in Africa or 
China? 



OHAPTER VII. 



PENANCE AND PRIEST. 



Confession and penance play a large part in the 
religious life of the common people. The priests exer- 
cise great ingenuity to preserve the confessional. 
Thte better educated classes have long ago deserted 
the confessional, but it still holds sway over the com- 
mon people and hangs like a dark shadow over the 
immoral deeds of the priests. Along with it flouridhes 
the performance of penance. These two hand-maid- 
ens in wrong-doing often thrive in an absurd w!ay. 

In Penedo, the capital of the State of Alagoas, a new 
wharf was being built and the money granted by the 
Government was not sufficient to complete the work. 
The contractors approached the two monks who were 
to hold a mtission in the city during February, 1904, 
and ofiPered to pay them $500 if they would instruct 
the people to, in penance, carry across the city the 
stones which had been brought from the interior. A 
large quantity of building material had been brought 
down by rail and needed to be transported across to 
the wharf. The monks agreed, gave instructions ac- 
cordingly, and in one week the people carried these 
stones across the town' to the wharf. The transfer of 
these stones would have cost $2,500. At least 10,000 
people engaged in this colossal act of penance. They 



18 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

came from two counties. Thus the contractors, hy a 
little skillful manipulation, made penance save them 
considerable money. 

In some of these penances the people wear crowns 
of thorns on their heads and cords about their necks 
and go barefooted through the streets of the city in 
their pilgrimages to the church. All, that through 
these means they m'ay find some ease for the conscience 
which accuses them of evil. 

What shall I say of the priests? I believe I will say 
nothing. I declined steadily to soil the pages of my 
note book with the records of the immoral deeds of 
these men. I will let speak for me an educated Bra- 
zilian, a teacher in an excellent school in Pernambuco, 
who is not a professing Ohristian, but who, like a great 
many of his class, admires Christianity xevy sincerely. 
When Mr. Colton, International Secretary of the 
Young Men's Christian Association, passed through 
Pernambuco in June, 1910, he was given ^a banquet by 
some of the leading men, w^hich event offended so 
grievously the Catholic authorities that they published 
in the ''Religious Tribune," their organ, a bitter 
diatribe on the Young Men's Christian Association. 
The professor, to whom I referred, who is now one of 
the leading judges in the state, published the fol- 
lowing answer to this attack. He is in far better 
position to speak authoritatively about the Brazilian 
priests than I am. His article ran as follows: 
'"fury unbridled.'' 

"The official organ of the diocese of Olinda could 
not on this occasion control its great animus. It threw 
aside its old worn-out mantle of hypocrisy, it precipi- 




VOTIVE OFFERIXGS, BOM FIM, BAHIA 

LAPA SHRINE 

BLACK CROSSES ON CHURCH, CONQUISTA. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 49 

tated itself furiously and insolently against the Y. M. 
C. A. It not only does not forgive, but does not fear 
to excommunicate the local and State authorities who 
appeared at the banquet nor the directory of the Portu- 
guese reading rooms who lent their hall to said Y. 
M. C. A. 

''After affirming that the evangciizatioii of Brazil 
means its unchristianizing the cleri'oal organ begins to 
call the members of the Association and Prot-estants 
in general wolves in cheep's clothing. 

''But we ask, to whom does this epithet apply better? 
To us who dress as the generality of men, thus leaving 
no doubt as to our sex and freeing our consciences 
from the ignominious Roman yoke, direct ourselves by 
that straight and narrow way which leads to salvation ; 
or to this black band T^^hich secretly and maliciously 
makes of a man its prey from the moment in whieti 
he sees the light of day until the moment in which he 
goes to rest in the bosom of the earth? To us, vfiio 
ha\dng no thirst for dominion, seek to cultivate in 
man all the noble attributes given by the Creator, to 
us who teach clearly and without sophistry and gross 
superstitio'ns the plan of salvation as it is found in the 
word of God; or to this legion of corrupt and 
hypocritical parasites, eorruptors of youth, w^hose char- 
acter they seek to debase and villify by means of the 
confessional? 

"The only object of the wolf in dressing himself as 
a sheep is to devour the sheep. And these shaven heads 
know perfectly well why we cite the chronicles of the 
convents ; they know from personal knowledge who are 
responsible for the greater part of the illegitimate 



50 BEAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

children, and they have no doubt about the perm'a- 
nency and progress of prostitution. 

''But they have effrontery, these priests I 

''What has the priesthood done in Brazil in about 
400 years? The answer is found in facts that prove the 
absence of all initiative of will, of strength, of energy 
and of acti\dty. Brazil has only been a field for torpid 
exploitation by these gain-hunting libertines. And 
what of the attacks against private and public fortunes? 

"Happily, for some years, the public conscience has 
been awakening and the people are beginning to know 
that a priest, even the best of them, is worthless. 

"Freed from an official religion, the Brazilian people 
have really made progress in spite of the hopelessness 
of Romanism that perverts all things and resorts to 
all sorts of schemes to preserve its former easy position. 

"We, pirates? Ah! deceivers. Then we, who pre- 
sent; ourselves loyally without subterfuge, proclaiming 
the divine truths, speaking logically, without artifices 
or superstitions, are pirates? You noble priests are 
noble specimens of Christian culture, I must confess! 
You are such good things that France has already 
horsewhipped you out of the country, and Spain, whose 
knightly race is regaining the noble attributes oblit- 
erated by the iron yoke of Romanism, is about ready 
to apply to you the same punishment. 

"There is no doubt that the priest is losing ground 
every day. All their manifestations of hate and 
Satanic fury are easily explained. 

"One easily recognizes the true value of the explo- 
sion of vicious egotism found in the official organ of 
the diocese of Olinda. The priest this time lost his 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 51 

calmness and let escape certain rude phrases as if lie 
were yet in the good old times when he could imprison 
and burn at his pleasure. Console yourselves, reverend 
lord priests, evers^thing comes to an end, and the 
ancient period of darkness and obscurity exists no more 
in Brazil." 

What is the net result of such religious life as we 
have been portraying? The common and more ignorant 
people accept without very much questioning the teach- 
ings and practices which we have explained. The bet- 
ter educated people, especially the men, have lost con- 
fidence in the priesthood. Scarcely an educated man 
can be found who believes in the moral uprightness of 
the priest. The chief hold the Church has upon the 
better classes is a social and not a religious one. Births, 
marriages, deaths, alike are great social events, and 
upon such occa,^ions, because it is custom to have a 
priest, the better classes of people even call in the serv- 
ices of the priests, in whom they have no confidence. 
The eflPect upon the beliefs of these better classes is 
most distressing. Spiritism, materialism' and atheism 
are rampant, and one could well believe that these 
people set adrift without spiritual guides are in a worse 
condition than if they were still devout believers in 
the ancient practices of the Roman church. They are 
far more difficult to reach because they have imbibed 
the philosophies of spiritism, materialism and atheism. 
An atheist in South America is just as difficult to 
approach as he is anywhere. The devout Catholics 
are easier to reach with the gospel. The devout Catho- 
lic has at least one element which must always be 
reckoned with in dealing helpfully with an immortal 



52 BEAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

soul. He has reverence, which thing many of those 
people who have been swung away from their faith 
have not. I take no comfort in the fact that the people 
in large numbers are deserting the Eiom'an Catholic 
church and are being set adrift without any form of 
religion. One could vn^h that they might be held to 
their old beliefs until we could reach them with the 
virile truths of the gospel of Jesus. 

We come back to it — the gospel is not preached in 
Brazil except as it is preached by the Prote^ant mis- 
sionary. The need is just as great for gospel preaching 
in this country as it is in China. 

One day after I had finished speaking to a congre- 
gation in Castello, back in the interior from Campos, 
an old English wom'an came up to me and expressed 
her great pleasure over having the privilege of hearing 
once more the gospel preached in English. I had 
spoken in English, and the missionary had interpreted 
w^hat I had to say into Portuguese. She had heard the 
sermon twice. She had been in Brazil thirty-odd years. 
She and her husband had lived in the far interior. 
They had recently moved down to Castello that they 
might be near the little church where they could 
could have the opportunity of worshiping God. She 
told me that back in the town in which they had lived 
they had left two sons who were engaged in business 
for themselves. These two sons had been born in Bra- 
zil, and yet in all their lives they had never 
heard a gospel sermon. Yes, these people are 
without the gospel and this is our justification for car- 
rjring to them the message of life. For them Christ 
d^l, and to them, because they have not heard, He ha«' 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 53 

sent us that we might bring His precious message of 
eternal salvation, for '^How shall they believe in Him 
oif whom they have not heard? And how shall they 
hear without a preadher?'^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT. 



It is often claimed that the progress of the gospel 
is slower and more difficult in Catholic countries than 
in outright heathen lands. Such statements can be 
answered only by an appeal to the facts in the case. 
What are the facts? The Foreign Mission Board of 
the Southern Baptist Convention has been conducting 
operations in Brazil for about thirty years. It has been 
doing work in China for more than sixty years. Dur- 
ing 'all the tame since work was opened in Brazil, the 
Boiard has had about three times as many missionaries 
in China as it had in Brazil, with the result that at the 
p/resent time we have 9,939 members of our churdhies 
in Brazil, as against 9,990 members of our ohurchiea 
in China. We have worked less than half as long in 
Brazil and with one-third of the missionary force. Last 
year with a missionary force one-third as large in Brazil 
as it was in China, there were 635 naore baptisms in 
Brazil than there were in China. There were 1,534 
baptisms in China and 2,169 in Brazil. The same sort 
of comparison between our work in Italy and Japan 
would make the same showing. This is not to make 
a prejudicial statement concerning the work in any 
field. We make it simply to show that the gospel does 
succeed remarkably in the Catholic countries. The fact 



56 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

is, the rate of progress is far greater in the Catholic 
country than it is in the heathen land. The gospel 
does succeed in Catholic countries. What is ^aid here 
of the work of this one Board can be laid just as truly 
of the others. 

It was our privilege to witness some remiarkable dcm^ 
onstrations of the power of the go^el v/hile we were in 
Brazil. About 3:30 o'clock one afternoon we arrived 
in Genipiapo in the interior of the State of Bahia, after 
having ridden since early morning upon the railroad 
train through a mountainous country which, with its 
tropical vegetation, held our keenest interest. We were 
met at the station by some members of our church, 
who escorted us to the home of Polycarpo Nogueira. 
Mrs. Nogueira is a very devout Christian. Some years 
ago she learned that her mother had embraced Chris- 
tianity. Mrs. Nogueira set out upon a journey of 130 
miles on muleback to her mother's home for the pur- 
pose of taking out of her mother's heart her belief in 
the gospel. She succeeded in shaking her mother's 
faith and also the faith of her brother. She now de- 
termined to prepare herself to comlbat this Baptist 
teaching which was spreading over the country. She 
marked passages of Scripture which she proposed to 
use against the Baptists. But when she used them 
she grew ashamed because s>he became conscious of the 
fact that .^he had misapplied the Word which ghe then 
gave deeper study. The Word of God took hold of her 
own heart and she in turn was converted. Her first 
thought was concerning her mother and brother 130 
miles away. Again sihe took the long journey on mule- 
back in order to lead her loved ones to Christ. She 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 57 

was able to re-establish her mother's faith, but to this 
day her deep regret is that her brother does not believe. 

We had a great service at the church that night. 
The crowd was so large that we held the sendees out 
in the open. Seven stood to confess their surrender 
to Christ. The good deacon of the church was eo 
thoroughly in the spirit of the occasion and in such 
sympathy with me that he declared he could undeir- 
stand my English. He really seemed to catch it before 
the missionary could interpret it. 

On the following day we reached St. Inez, the stajtion 
at the end of the railway, and spent the night in a 
poor excus^e of a lodging house called the Commercial 
Hotel. 

At 7 o'clock on the follo^dng morning, which was 
Sunday, we started on horseback for Arroz Novo, an 
excellent country church fifteen miles away. A young 
brother named John Laringeiro (John Orangetree) 
had brought horses for us. Before his conversion he 
was an arch persecutor, and since he has become a. 
Christian he has been called upon to suffer even more 
bitter persecution than he ever inflicted upon others. 
He is struggling to care for his mother, and as the 
pastor of the church at Rio Preto, he is a most accept- 
able gospel preacher. 

It was a fine ride into the country, over hill and 
mountain and deeply-shaded valley. After we had 
ridden about half the length of our journey several 
brethren from Arroz Novo (New Rice) met us to escort 
us to the church. A mile or two further we were met 
by another company, who swelled the number of our 
dashing cavalcade to about twenty-five. It was dashing, 



58 BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

too, for tihey were iiard riders. It was a very joyous 
and cordial recepti>on committee. Finally we rode in^to 
sight; of t'he church, which is located on a high hill 
commanding a grand panorama of the mountains. As 
we approiached we saw two long lines of people stand- 
ing facing each other in front of the church. The men 
were on one side and the women on the other — about 
600 of them. As we rode up the congregation sang a 
hymn to give us welcome. We dismounted when we 
reached the end of the two lines and walked down 
between them to the church. Now it is the custom in 
Brazil upon festal occasions to strew the meeting place 
with oleander and cinnamon leaves and to throw rose 
petals and confetti upon those they wish to honor. 
These good people observed this custom generously 
that day. A wide space of the ground in front of 
the church was strewed with leaves, and they lowered 
such quantities of rose petals and confetti upon us that 
we were beautiful sights by the time we reached the 
door. 

We entered the very creditable church building into 
which the people now poured until every foot of space 
was occupied. There was hardly room left for me to 
make gestures as I spoke. It wm ten o'clock. The 
people had been present since four engaged in a prayer 
meeting. We began the service immediately. The 
Spirit of the Lord was upon us to preach the gospel. 
Afterward we called for those who wished to make con- 
fession of their faith in Christ. We pushed back the 
people a little bit in the front and the space thus 
mlade vacant was immediately filled with those who 
wished to confess their Lord and Sa\dor. We saw that 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 59 

others wanted to come, so we asked them to stand 
where they were. All through the audience they rose. 
Then began the examination of these candidates. 
Numerous questions were put to them by the mission* 
ary and the pastor of the church. Sometimes as many 
as twenty-five or even more questions would be asked 
an individual so great was the care exercised in ex- 
amining those who wished to become members of the 
church, and what impressed me most was the fact that 
after every question they could think of had' been 
asked, they would ask if anyone present could endorse 
him. Whereupon someone, if he could recomqnend 
the candidate would, after a brief speeeh of endorse- 
ment, 'make a motion to receive him. 

Over to my right rose a young woman who was the 
most beautiful woman I saw in Brazil. Her name was 
Elvira Leal. She had been favorable to the gospel for 
some timie and had suffered cruel persecution from 
her father. The tears streamed down her face as she 
spoke, saying, '^You know my story and what I have 
been called upon to endure for the gospeFs sake, but 
this morning I must confess the Lord. I cannot resist 
the Spirit longer." I learned that her father, in order 
to force her to give up her faith, had dragged her 
across the floor by her hair. He had brandished his 
dagger over her heart, threatening to take her life ; he 
had forced her to break her engagement to be mar- 
ried to the young preacher, John Larinjeiro, who had 
brought the horses for us; he had declared he would 
kill both of them rather than to allow them to marry, 
and at the time we were there she was compelled to 
live in the home of a neighbor, so violent had become 



60 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

her father in his opposition to her adherence to the 
gospel. That morning, however, she said though she 
knew it involved sujBPering, she would follow her Savior 
at whatever cost. 

By the time the missionary had finished examining' 
this woman, a man had crowded near to the front and 
indicated that he wished to say something. It was John 
Larinjeiro's brother. He said that for two years he 
had been impressed with the gospel, but because of the 
persecution in his own home he had held back. When 
years ago his mother had been converted, he went 
to persuade her to give up her religion. Persuasion 
failing, he persecuted her severely. She finally told 
him that his efforts were of no avail because she could 
not give up her faith in Christ, yet if he would take the 
Bible and show her where she was wrong, she would 
give it up. He secured a gospel circulated by the 
priest and also "The Manual of Instructions for Hold- 
ing Missions" and both of these confirmed his 
mother's faith, and he had no more to say. The Word 
impressed itself upon his heart and he became sympar 
-thetic to t!he gospel. Then trouble arose. His father-in- 
law, he said, had threatened to take his wife and chil- 
dren from him and to put him out of his own home. 
His wife had persecuted him and declared she would 
leave him if he made the confession he desired to 
make. He said that he did not know what to do, 
but had come forrv^ard to ask us to pray for him. Then 
the congregation fell upon its face, as far as such a 
thing was possible, and prayed. I could not under- 
stand all they said in the prayers because they were 
spoken in Portuguese, but so mighty was the presence 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 61 

of the Spirit and so irresistible was the appeal sent up 
to the throne of Grace that I knew 'before the prayers 
ended what the result would be. As soon as the prayers 
were concluded, the man stood up and said, '^News 
travels quickly in this country. It may be that when 
I reach homie I shall find my wife and children gone, 
but whatever may be the cost, I cannot resist the Spirit 
today. I must confess my Lord and ask for member- 
ship in the church." Of course, he was received. A 
letter received from the missionary some months later 
informed me that the father-in-law had carried out 
his threat and did take away the wife and children. 

Numerous otthers stood to make confession, and the 
examination continued far past one o'clock, 'till twenty- 
one were received for baptism. This marvelous out- 
pouring of the Spirit of Christ enabled us to see with 
our own eyes the power of the gospel demonstrated in 
the saving of souls in Brazil. 

After the service we went to breakfast in a house 
near by. The crowd, laocording to custom, came into 
the dining room, ajs many of them as could, to hear 
the conversation while we sat about the table. The 
walls of the building were made of mud, the floor 
was the bare ground, in the corner of the room, sur- 
rounded by a mud puddle, stood a water jar, around 
which the chickens were picking. I kicked a pig out 
of my way, accidentally stepped on a dog,, but nothing 
daunted, fell to with good will and ate, asking no 
questions. 

After a few hours' ride, upon our return journey in 
the afternoon, we reached the town of Olhos d'Agua 
(Fountains of Water) througih which we had passed 



62 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

upon our outward journey in the early morning. 
There is a very good church at this place which, has 
suffered cruel persecution. Upon the doors of every 
Protestant house in the town have been painted black 
crosses. They were placed there at night by the Cath- 
olics to keep the Devil from coming lOut." The black 
cross of derision has become a mark of honor in that 
community. We were greeted by a splendid audience 
that night and the gospel again was honored. More 
than a dozen people accepted Christ and made confes- 
sion of Him. 

I was greatly interested in Brother Raymundo, who 
is the leading member of this church. Formerly he 
was a great persecutor. He was an enemy to Antonio 
Barros, w*ho is now a leading member in the dhurch at 
Arroz Novo. Barros was converted 'at Lage, and when 
he met Raymundo he greeted him, at which Ray- 
mundo was greatly surprised. Barros explained his 
action by saying that he had found Christ and wanted 
to live at pea<;e with all men. The fact that his 
enemy should embraee him and beg his pardon greatly 
imJpresaed Raymundo. Upon the invitation of Barros, 
Raymundo attended the meeting that night. He was 
touched by the gospel and was converted. He now had 
to experience the same persecution he had inflicted 
upon others. His enemies wrote to the merchants in 
Bahia and told them that he was out of his mind. So 
persistent was their persecution that he was compelled 
to give up his business. His credit was destroyed by 
these reports. He moved away from Olhos d'Agua, 
but when the native pastor left the place recently 
Raymundo returned in order to hold the work to- 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 63 

gether. He now makes his meager living by trading, 
and through great sacrifice leads the congregation in 
a very acceptable service. 

We returned to St. Ignez by ten o'clock that night, 
tired and happy over what our eyes had seen and our 
h^earts h^d Mt. It had been a day of triumph for the 
gospel. 

On Monday we started on our journey for Santo 
Antonio. When we passed through Genipapo we found 
Brother Polycarpo Nogueira at the station. He had 
come to ask about a passage of Scripture I had pointed 
out to him on the night When we stayed in his homo 
We had urged him( to accept the gospel and he 
hesitated. I quoted to him, ^'Everyone, therefore, who 
shall confess me before men, him will I confess before 
my Father in Heaven. But whosoever shall deny me 
'before men, him will I deny before my Father who is 
in Heaven." Mat. 10:32, 33. He told us about a won- 
derful meeting held in the church on Sunday, in which 
one had been converted and many others were deeply 
interested. He himself was evidently moved upon by 
the Spirit. May the word we gave him lead him to 
Christ. 

Some hours further on we passed through Vargem 
Grande, where we have another church. Several people 
boarded the train to accompany us to Santo Antonio. 
One of them was Fausto de Almeida. When the ex- 
priest, Ottoni, visited Vargem Grande some years ago to 
preach the gospel this man Almeida, with a great 
crowd of boys equipped with tin cans, met him at the 
station. This troupe escorted Ottoni to the church and 
stood outside making as much noise as possible. He 



64 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

offered the ex-priest a loaided cigar, which. Ottoni de- 
clined with kindly thanks. The minister's conduct 
was so gentle and kind that Fausto, when he bethought 
himself, went home in a rage, became intoxicated, 
and in order to vent his wrath, went out into his back 
yard and fired his pistols, A little later one of his 
sisters was converted, and by her good testimony not 
long after that when she died, he was greatly im- 
pressed. Another sister was converted and gave him 
a Bible, which he read and in which he found the 
message of Christ. He obeyed his Lord, and in spite 
of violent opposition on the part of his wife, is today 
in a faithful and effective way, building up the church 
at Vargem Grande. 




DK. XOGUEIKA PAKAXAGUA FELICIDADE 

JOSE BAKEETTO 

THOMAZ DE COSTA CAPTAIX EGYDIC 

EEV. F. F. SOEEX 



66 BRAZILIAN SKr^TCHES. 

gerous encounters. He did not deign to steal the bal- 
lots, but would take possession of the ballot box, ex- 
tract from it the proper number of votes, destroy them, 
seal the box and allow the count to be made. No one 
dared withstand him. He was just as violent in his 
opposition to the Protestants. He declared that he 
woilld beat any Protestant w*ho should ever come into 
his house. 

Well, one day his own brother-in-law came to see 
him. This brother-inlaw was blind and also a Christian. 
After a while Jose and his wife were commiserating 
the brother over his blindness when he said, that 
though his eyes were clouded, his soul saw the light 
of life. His sister said to him, ''You must be a 
Protestant." He replied, "Yes, thank God, I know 
Jesus Ohrist." She was so frightened that she fainted, 
because she had visions of her burly husband pouncing 
upon her blind brother and beating him to death. Her 
husband resuscitated her and soothed her by saying, 
"I know I have said all of these things about what I 
would do to the Protestants, but I hope I am not mean 
enough to strike a blind man and certainly I would 
not injure your brother." That night the brother 
asked them to read the Scriptures. They had no Bible, 
but did possess a book of Bible stories, one of which 
the sister read, and then the brother asked permdssion 
to pray. Jose Barretto had always been reverential, 
and so he knelt in prayer. So earnest and childlike 
was the praying of the blind brother and so fully did 
he express the real heart hunger of the great, strong 
man that when the prayer was finished, Jose Barretto 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 67 

said very sincerely, ''Amen." He became deeply in- 
terested in the gospel. 

When the brother left, the Spirit of God so im- 
pressed Jose that he felt he must look up a Ne^ 
Testament which he had taken from an employee some 
time ago. He had looked at this book which he had 
taken from the employee's hands, and finding no 
saints' pictures in it, concluded that it was that hated 
Protestant Bible the priests were trying to keep from 
being circulated, and had thrown it into a box in the 
corner of his office. Now he w^ent to this box, fished 
out the New Testament, brushed the dust from its 
pages and read from it the word of life. The blind 
brother, in the meantime, had gone to Santo Antonio 
and told what had happened. The chief of police of 
the city, w^ho was a Christian and the President of 
the Baptist Young People's Union, declared that he 
was going out to see Jose. ''I have been afraid to go," 
he said, ''because Jose has been so violently opposed to 
the gospel." 

He w^ent and found the strong man poring over the 
pages of the book in his effort to find the w^ay of life. 
He explained the gospel and Barretto was soon con- 
verted, as was also his sister. His wife held on to her 
old faith. She would pray, but would use the Crucifix. 
Finally the husband and sister decided they would 
burn the idol, which they accordingly did. When the 
wife saw that no dreadful calamity befell the house she 
concluded that the idol was a powerless thing and gave 
her heart to Christ. 

The life of Jose Barretto since that time has been a 
burning light. He has been as zealous in following 



68 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

Christ as lie ever was in following evil, though not so 
violent. His witness has heen honored amongst his 
own family and relations CvSpecially. They have been 
forced to realize that there is something in Christianity 
which can produce such a remarkable change in the life 
of STich a violent man. When we were in his home we 
learned of a family of twenty-one, some distance out 
in the country, who were ready to make confession of 
their faith and be baptized. They were anxious for the 
rodssionar}" to come and baptize them and to organize 
a churdi in one of their homes. These people were the 
relatives of Jose Barretto. It is marvelous how the 
witness of his life is bearing fruit. He lost hLs position 
as Superintendent by his acceptance of Christ, but is 
now making a living as a coffee merchant. 

AVe had a remarkable service at the church that 
night. A great throng pressed into the building, and 
Jose Barretto was the chief usher. I have never seen 
a man who could crowd more people into a building 
than could he. After the house had been packed there 
still remained on the outside a crowd as large as that 
sandwiched into the building. I preached the gospel 
once more, speaking, of course, in all of these services 
through an interpreter. When I called for those who 
would confess Christ I did not ask themi to come for- 
ward because there was no room for them. They 
stood here and there over the audience until more 
than twenty expressed themselves as having accepted 
Christ and desiring membership in the church. When 
one man stood amongst this number I noticed that 
Jose Barretto was very deeply moved. His great frame 
shook with emotion. I learned afterwards that the 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 69 

man who stood was a police sergeant, who in the old 
days had been Jose's confederate in his political 
crookedness. That night this man stood acknowledg- 
ing his sins and asking for membership in the church. 
Jose's faithfulness had won him. Once more we wit- 
nessed a miarvelous victory of the gospel. 

On the very day on which we visited Santo Antonio 
and were entertained in the home of our good brother 
Jose Barretto, this great stalwart fellow w^ho had been 
such a violent opposer of Christianity and who had 
previously lived such a desperate life, was met on the 
street by one of his former schoolmates. His school- 
mate chided him for becoming a Christian and insin- 
uated that Jose's conversion was an act of weakness 
and also that he would not hold out very long. He 
went further to say many severe things in criticism of 
the cause of Protestant Christianity. Jose Barretto 
replied, ''You ought to be ashamed of yourself for find- 
ing fault with the thing which has produced such a 
change in my life. You know the kind of character 
I have been in this community. You know how vio- 
lent and sinful I have been and you know at this time 
how I am living. A religion which can produce such 
a change as this does not deserve ridicule." The man 
turned and slunk away. In the meantime, there had 
gathered around them a number of people, because they 
knew how serious a matter it was for anyone to oppose 
him, and they expected to see something violent take 
place that day. Being emboldened by the mild 
answer which he gave to his persecutor, others began 
to ask questions. Finally one of them asked him this 
question: ''Suppose someone should strike you in the 



70 BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

face in persecution^ w'bat would you do?" And then 
the great, strong violent man who had been made 
meek and humble by his acceptance of Jesus gave an 
answer which showed him to be genuinely converted 
to the Spirit of Jesus. He said: '^I am not afraid of 
such a thing as that happening, for the reason that I 
propose to live in this community such a life for the 
help of my brothers that no one will ever desire to 
strike me in the face," and these others turned shamjo- 
stricken away from him. He threw down before that 
community the challenge of his life, and that is the 
thing that not only in Brazil, but here in our own land, 
must finally win for our King the triumph whicJi is 
His due. 



CHAPTER X. 



CAPTAIN EGYDIO. 



What brought about the readiness of this territory 
in the interior of the State of Bahia for the acceptance 
of the gospel? Perhaps tihe brand of burning which did 
more than any other to shed light through the entire 
section over which we passed, was the person of Captain 
Egydio Pereira de Almeida. He was one of several 
brothers of a good country family which owned large 
possessions in the interior 150 miles from the city of 
Bahia. He was an intense Catholic, but never a perse- 
cutor. At one time he was Captain in the National 
Guards. He was political boss of his community and 
protector for a small tribe of Indians. He was a hard- 
working, law-abiding citizen. 

In order to know the story we must go back a little. 
In 1892 Solomon Ginsburg sold a Bible to Guil- 
hermino de Almeida on the train when he was going 
to Armagoza. Ginsburg had only one Bible left and 
felt constrained to offer it to the stranger across the 
aisle. The man said he had no money and did not 
care to buy. The missionary pressed him and finally 
sold him for fifty cents a Bible worth four times that 
amount. That night his fellow passenger heard the 
misaonary speak in the theater in Armagoza and 
seemed to enjoy especially the hymns the preacher 



72 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

sang. The missionary marked for him the Ten Com- 
mandments and other passages in the Bible. 

When the man reached his home at Vargem Grande 
a few days afterward he told his brother Mareiano de 
Almeida of his encounter with the missionary, of how 
he had bought the Bible which he did not want and 
of the Ten Commandments the missionary had marked 
for him. He very willingly gave his Bible to his 
brother. Mareiano read the book and was particularly 
impressed with the Ten Commandments. 

Now, we must introduce into this narrative another 
character in the person of good Brother Madeiros. 
Some time before this, having become interested in the 
gospel, he had gone to Bahia and had been instructed 
by Missionary Z. C. Taylor in the truth to such good 
purpose that he gave himself to the Lord. His neigh- 
bors at Valenca, his native town, on learning of his 
having accepted Christ, drove him out, and he moved 
to Vargem Grande. But he found no rest in his new 
home, for his fellow townsmen so persecuted him that 
he was compelled to live in the outskirts of the town. 
He was the first believer in Vargem Grande. "When 
Mareiano de Almeida became interested in the Scrip- 
tures he went to see Madeiros and was instructed by 
him in the gospel. He told the persecuted saint that 
he would stand by him from now on, for Mareiano 
had experienced a marvelous conversion. 

On learning that his images were idols, Mareiano 
collected all immediately and burnt them, greatly to 
the disgust of his family and the whole town. He 
began at once to declare the Word of God, and though 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 73 

he was as gentle as a lamb, he was also as hcM as a 
lion in defending the gospel. 

When his brother, Captain Eg^^dio de Almeida, who 
lived sixty miles away, learned that Marciano had 
become converted, he made the journey to take out 
of his brother's heart the false teaching which he had 
imbibed. He pitied his brother, thinking that Mar- 
ciano's mind had become unbalanced. When Captain 
Egj^dio arrived at his brother's in Vargem Grande, 
being a vety positive man, he set about the business 
of straightening out his brother with dispatch and de- 
termination. He failed in his purpose, and then called 
in a priest. When he returned with the priest Mar- 
ciano asked the two to be seated. Immediately the 
priest inquired, ^'What is this I am hearing about you, 
Marciano?" He replied, ''Mr. Priest, I am thirty-five 
years old and you never gave me the Bible, God's 
Holy Law and as God ordered it. I came by it through 
the Protestants whom you have always abused. You 
have taken my money all these years for mass, saying 
you would take the souls of our kin out of a purgatory 
that does not exist. You taught me to worship idols 
which God's Word condemns. You sprinkle m.y chil- 
dren for money, marry them for money, and when 
they die you still demand money to save their souls 
from an imaginary purgatory. The Bible teaches me, 
on the other hand, that God offers me a free salvation 
through Jesus Christ." The priest rose and said 
good-bye T\-ithout offering a word of explanation. See- 
ing the priest thus defeated. Captain Egydio turned to 
old Brother Madeiros, who happened to be present, 
and said: ''If you continue to put these false doctrines 



74 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

in my brother's head I will send a couple of Indians 
here to take off your head." ''Yes," replied Madeiros, 
''you may cut off my head, but you cannot cut off 
my soul from God." Captain Egydio returned home 
breathing out plagues upon himself and his family. 
He drank heavily at every grog shop on his way and 
scattered abroad the news about his family's disgrace. 
He was a man of a kind heart, and though he did 
not embrace the truths of his brother's religion, he did 
show his brother greait consideration and, being a politi- 
cal leader for that district, became his brother's pro- 
tector. 

When his wrath had cooled dow^n somewhat he began 
to recall many things Marciano had told him about 
the Bible, and as he looked upon his rrmny expensive 
idols set here and there in niches about his home, he 
said to himself: "Well, did Marciano say these images 
do nothing. They neither draw water, cut wood nor 
pick coffee. They do not teach school, they do not 
protect our home, for there is one covered with soot. 
There is another the rat^ have gnawed, and recently 
another fell and was broken. How powerless they 
are." Then he remembered the Bible which a believer 
had given him years before. He began to examine 
it in a closed room. As he read he prayed, "Oh, God, 
if this religion of Marciano be right, show it to me." 

He seemed to be making good progress. But about 
this time he received word that his brother and the 
missionary R. E. Neighbor w-ere coming to see him. 
The priest had also heard of the approaching \dsit and 
had sent a letter to Captain Egydio's son warning him 
against the coming men, saying that they were emis- 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 75 

saries of the United States and wished to lead the 
Almeidas astray. The letter bearer was instructed to 
deliver the letter to the son and not let the father know 
anything about it, but he said, ''I cannot do that be- 
cause I must be true to my old captain," so he gave 
the letter to Captain Egydio. He was greatly disturbed 
over the warnings the priest had given and tried to 
induce his children to give up the reading of the 
pamphlets and Scriptures he had given to them, which 
thing they refused to do. 

His brother and the missionary came according to 
agreement and Captain Egydio, true to his word, went 
with them to the town of Areia to protect them while 
they were engaged in conducting a gospel service in 
the public square. The priest of the town sent the 
police to prevent the Protestants from conducting the 
meeting. The sergeant, who had been under Captain 
Egydio when he was Captain in the National Guards, 
was one of the detail sent to suppress the meeting. He 
declared that he would stand by his old Captain, for 
the men knew that under the Constitution the mis- 
eioiiary had a perfect right to hold the meeting. The 
meeting was held, but under such unfavorable circum;^ 
stances that the Captain stood forth and said: "I have 
not declared myself a Protestant, but from this time I 
shall be a Protestant and propose to give my life to the 
spread of this faith.'' 

It happened that one day he was called to visit a 
boy who had b^en shot. As be rode along through the 
open fields he was burdened with prayer to God. Sud- 
denly he felt a strange feeling and he seemed to hear 
A voice saying, ^'You are saved." Imtmediately he 



76 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

knew that the Lord had visited him with His blessed 
salvation. He shouted as he rode along the way, "Glory- 
to God. I am redeemed.^' He rode on in this state 
to the home of the boy. Seeing the boy could not 
live, he began to exhort him to look to Christ for salva- 
tion, and just before the boy's spirit passed out from 
him, he made confession of his Lord. The Captain 
returned to his home overflowing with joy. He gal- 
loped his horse up to the door, shouting, "Glory, hal- 
lelujah, I am saved." He embraced his wife and chil- 
dren and all stood back staring at him. Finally the 
mother cried: "Poor man! Children, your father is 
mad. Get the scissors and let us cut off his hair ; let us 
rub some liniment on his head." "All right," he said, 
"only do not cut it too close," and he suffered them to 
rub the liniment also upon his head. Seeing that there 
was no change in him, they also administered to him 
one of their homely medicines, a small portion of 
which he was willing to take to pacify them. Their 
opinion of his sanity was not changed. 

Not only his family, but his neighbors suspected him. 
As he engaged in business — and he was a very busy 
m'an — ^people were watching him to see if something 
was not dreadfully wrong. Finally all realized that 
a great and beneficent change had taken place. He 
never became a preacher, but he did not allow to pass 
an opportunity to tell the story of his newly-found 
Savior. His Bible was constantly in his hands, and he 
read the mar\^elous news to all. His family soon be- 
came interested in the gospel and they, even to his 
son-in-law, became as crazy upon the subject as be. 
Thirteen of them were baptized at one time. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 77 

For activity in evangelization his equal was scarcely 
ever met. He kept for distribution boxes of Bibles 
and tracts. While at business he witnessed for the 
gospel. He traveled extensively. Some of his bosom 
friends became his worst enemies, but many of them 
he led to Christ, or at least to a friendship, for the 
gospel. He did not preach, but invited many preachers 
to come to his community and was always ready to 
accompany them whenever they needed his presence. 
His life was the greatest sermon he could preach to the 
people. They had known him once in the old days 
when one of his sons fell sick he promised to carry 
his weight of beeswax to the miracle working saint 
of the Lapa shrine, 100 miles away on the San Fran- 
cisco River. The son recovered and the father kept 
his word. Now they saw him discard his old super- 
stitions for the truth in Jesus. The gospel that could 
produce such a marvelous change as this had its effect 
upon his neighbors. He organized a church upon his 
own fazenda and it held its meetings in his own house 
at Casca. 

He became deeply interested in the subject of educa- 
tion. He said one day to Dr. Z. C. Taylor, our mis- 
sionary at Bahia: ''While I was a Catholic I had no 
desire to educate my children, but now I would give 
all of this farm to see them educated. Dr. Taylor told 
him of some of his own plans concerning a school, and 
Captain Egydio contributed the first money for the 
school, which Dr. Taylor afterward established, Captain 
Egydio's gift of a thousand dollars making it possible 
for this school to be organized. 



78 BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

Of the trials and persecutions which he endured for 
the gospel, we can cite only one or two. 

A priest paid two men sixty dollars to go and take the 
Captain's life. They appeared one night at his door and 
asked for employment. He invited them in, saying he 
had plenty of work he could give them to do. The 
time soon arrived for family prayers and the men 
were invited to be present. The Captain afterward told 
the family that while he was praying he received a 
distinct impression that the men had come to do hiin 
bodily injury and that in the prayer he had committed 
hin?.self absolutely to the protection of God. The next 
da]'- he took the two men out into the field to show 
them what to do. In the meantime he had been telling 
them of the love of Jesus and how He had come to 
save to the uttermost those who would believe on Him. 
One lingered behind to shoot, but his hand trembled 
too much. The other did not have the courage to do 
the man of God any injury. That night they said 
they would not stay longer. He paid them for the 
day's work, bade them godspeed and they departed. 

But he did not always escape suffering so easily. One 
afternoon as he was passing by the priest's home the 
priest accosted him and said: "Captain, why is it you 
do not stop with me any more? You used to do so, but 
of late you have passed me by." He urged the Captain 
so strongly that he decided to stay all night. They 
offered him wine to drink, which he refused. Then 
they gave him coffee. That night he suffered agony 
and was sick for some time after reaching home. He 
was sure he had been poisoned. 

He suffered many persecutions from unsympathetic 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 79 

neighbors, not only from criticism, but sometimes from 
bodily injuries and from painful abuse, all of which 
he bore with an equanimity of spirit which would do 
credit to any martyr to the cause of Christ. 

Dr. Z. C. Taylor relates a trying exerience through 
which he and Captain Egydio passed together. 

''The Captain and I were together one day return- 
ing home from a preaching tour by a near cut, passing 
the door of our greatest persecutor. Captain Bernadino, 
who on seeing us, seized a stick, and running to us, 
beat back our horses, crying, 'Back, back, you cannot 
pass my house.' A plunge of my horse caused my hat 
to fall off, which he handed me and continued to 
force our retreat. We returned by way of the homje 
of his son-in-law, who was a baptized believer, and 
while this brother was piloting us down a hill 'to an- 
other way home Captain Bernadino, jumping from be- 
hind a bush, caught my horse by the bridle. He had 
an assassin at his heels, with axe in hand, asking every 
minute what he should do. Captain Bernadino wore 
out his stick on my horse, planting the last stroke 
across my loins ; then he struck me about a dozen times 
in the breast with his fist. I said to him, 'Captain, 
why are you beating mc, I believe in God ; do not you 
also?' Stopping and panting he said, 'Do you believe 
in God, you rascal?' 'Yes,' I said, 'and Jesus also who 
came to save us sinners.' Don't let up, don't let up, 
hit him, hit him,' cried his wife and children. He 
pulled the bridle from my hands, led my horse into 
a pond close by, and gathering mud, pelted mje from 
foot to shoulder. Then leaving my horse, he went after 
Captain Egydio, who was guarded by another assassin. 



80 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

On passing his son-in-law, kneeling, he struck him on 
the head, saying, 'Get up, you fool!' Leading the Cdp- 
tain's horse into the wat^r, he covered him with mud 
from foot to head. Then, putting our bridles up, he 
beat our horses and told us to go, never to be seen in 
those parts any more. My bridle reins he crossed, 
which fact caused me when I passed his wife, who 
stood with a long stick upraised, to strike me, to turn 
my horse upon her instead of away from her, and the 
horse came near running over her. She struck and 
fell back, the stick falling acro^ my horse's neck. Such 
a pandemonium of mad voices, cursing and shouting as 
we left I never heard. It took us till night to reach 
home. The family took it as an honor, and smiling 
and laughing, we were spending the evening merrily, 
when at nine or ten o'clock a rap at the door caused us 
all to suspend our hilarity. It was that son-in-law of 
the persecutor, bringing his wife, asking to be bap- 
tized. She had witnessed the persecution her father 
gave us, and on her husband's return to the house, she 
told him the scene made her think of the Apo-stles and 
that now she was determined to be baptized. At first 
I thought of bloodshed, for her father had threatcued 
to kill her, her mother, Captain Egj^dio and the man 
who baptized her. But I had always taught them to 
obey Christ and leave results with Him, so we heard 
her experience and at midnight I baptized her. 

Captain Eg^^dio did not complain of our treatment 
nor did I ever mertion it to our Consul. 

T\Tien he gave his heart to Christ he gave his life 
and all. He followed where his conscience led. Before 
his conversion he was a great smoker. The missionary 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 81 

asked him one day if he smoked for the glory of God. 
He took th'a cigarette from his mouth, threw it away 
and never smoked again. This was characteristic of his 
determination and his unfaltering devotion to what he 
esteemed to be right. 

The end came swiftly one night. He had an at- 
tack apparently of indigestion which carried him 
speedily away. The symptoms seemed to indicate that 
he had been poisoned. All that night he spent in 
pr;^yer and in singing hymns. He died leaving his 
benediction upon his family and upon those Brazilians 
^vho would give their hearts and their services to 
Jesus Christ. 

He was buried upon his own farm. As his family 
did not erect a cross over his gTave, one of his neigh- 
bors who had persecuted Captain Egydio \dolently 
many times thought he would correct him in his grave, 
and so he set up a large cross over him. One night 
soon after, this cross was cut down. The violent neigh- 
bor instituted a suit for the violation of the law in 
tearing down a symbol of the Roman Catholic church. 
He also came with great pomp, accompanied by sol- 
diers, and set up another cross. The law suit finally 
w^ore itself out and both parties were glad to drop it, 
each party sharing an equal amount of the costs. 

The persecution has been so bitter that the church 
which Captain Eg}^dio organized in his own house 
was removed to Pe da Serra, three miles away^ and 
from there it was driven by persecution to Rio Preto, 
where today it flourishes with a mem'bership of about 
fifty people and is in a hopeful condition. The widow 
and her children have been compelled to move into 



82 liKAZIJAAN SKETCHES. 

the city of Bahia. A recent letter informs me of the 
conversion of the two youngest girls. 

The witness of Captain Egydio has not been lost. 
It is marvelous how much he accomplished in his 
short career. He was converted October, 1894, bap- 
tized February 4, 1895, and died March 30th, 1898, 
at fifty years of age. In these few years he sowed 
the country down with the gospel truth. We visited 
Vargem Grande, Santo Antonio, Areia and Genipapo 
churches, all of which had grown very largely out of 
the influence of this one man, and had we been per- 
mitted to go further, we might have visited several 
other churches for whose beginning the life of this 
valiant servant of God was in a great measure respon- 
sible. "He, being dead, yet speaketh.^' 



CHAPTER XI. 

FELICIDADE. 

One of the m'ost fascinating phases of mission study 
is the tracing of the lines along which the gospel 
spreads. This is true hecause it brings us into touch 
with the native Christian who is one of the greatest 
agencies for the spread of the gospel. As it was in 
tlhe first century, so it is now — ''they that were scat- 
tered abroad went everywhere preaching the gospel.'^ 
The history of those Apostolic times repeats itself in 
every mission land. He who personally observes the 
work in Brazil or any other mission field will have a 
keener appreciation and understanding of the Acts of 
the Apostles written by Luke. The native Christians 
must either witness for their Lord or else betray Him. 
There is no middle ground. A large percentage of 
the churches in Brazil grew out of the fact that a be- 
liever moved into a community and began to tell the 
story of the love of Jesus to his neighbors. He may 
have entered this community by choice or may have 
been driven into it by persecution. However, that 
may be, the truth is that many a poor, despised, often 
persecuted believer, has started a movement in a com- 
munity which gathered to itself a large company of 
believers, and formed the nucleus of another one of 



84 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

those most wonderful institutions in all the world — a 
church of Jesus Christ. 

When I had entered the First Baptist Church in 
Sao Paulo, Brazil, and stood for a moment looking 
about me, I heard someone exclaim, ^'Oh, 'there he 
is! There he is !" and presently I found myself locked 
in the affectionate embrace of an apparently very happy 
old woman. She was about seventy years of age. She 
was the janitress of the church. She had looked for- 
ward to our coming with joyful pleasure, and gave to 
us as hearty a welcome as did anyone in Brazil. Her 
name was Felicidade, which being translated means 
'felicity." 

Several years ago she had come from Pernambuco, 
in which city and State she had labored with great 
success for many years in behalf of the gospel. 

When a girl of ten or twelve years of age she heard 
her father talk about a book he had seen in the court- 
house upon which the Judge had laid his hand as he 
administered the oath. She had the greatest desire to 
see this book. She was married in her thirteentih year 
and her husband died when she was eighteen. After 
his death she went from the country to the city of 
Pernambuco, where she met some members of the 
Congregational Church and was led by them to attend 
the services. She saw the Bible and heard a sermon 
preached from the text, ''Blessed are they that hunger 
and thirst," and soon afterward she gave obedience to 
Jesus. 

From that time forth her whole conver^tion was 
upon the gospel and upon the subject of bringing other 
people to Christ. One time when Mrs. Enitz- 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 85 

minger was away from the city of Pernambuco she left 
her children in charge of Felicidade. While Felicidade 
was passing along the street mth the children one day 
she was met by Mrs. ^Maria Motta and her daughter, 
who stopped to admire the beautiful children. 
Felicidade told who the children were and urged her 
new acqu'aintances to attend the church services. They 
accepted her invitation and soon became interested in 
the gospel, and before long were converted to faith in 
Jesus Christ. 

Then their persecution began. They lost all their 
friends and endured many other hardships. They 
came from one of the best families in the city, and 
therefore felt the persecution more bitterly than might 
have some others. The girl, i^ugusta, secured work in 
the English store. Her mother took in fine ironing, 
and thus the two made their support.. Afterward 
Augusta married Augusto Santiago, who at the present 
time is the pastor of our thriving church in the city 
of Nazareth. She has been to him one of the greatest 
blessings in that she has done much to help him in 
his effort to prepare himself better for his work. When 
we visited Nazareth we were entertained in the delight- 
ful home of Augusto Santiago and found it to be 
charming in every respect. 

When Felicidade lived in Pernambuco it was her 
custom to sell fruit for six months to make money 
enough to live upon for the remainder of the year. 
She would then go into the interior with tracts and 
Bibles, sell them 'and in every way try to lead 
people to Christ. One year she made it her aim to 
lead not less than twelve to her Lord, and she was able 



86 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

to accomplish her purpose. Her education is limited, 
but she knows any number of Scripture verses, which 
she is able to quote with remarkable aptness. 

Upon one of her visits into the interior she was 
found at Nazareth by Innocencio Barbosa, a farmer 
who resided in the district of Ilheitas. He lived about 
thirty miles from Nazareth. He took Felicidade home 
with him in order that she might teach the gospel 
to his family. Meanwhile, his friend, Hermenigildo, 
who lived in a distant neighborhood, 'bought a Bible 
in Limoeiro and told his friend Innocencio of what 
he had done. Innocencio told him of the presence of 
Felicidade and suggesteKi that his friend might take 
her home with him that she might explain the gospel 
to his family also. Felicidade accordingly went into 
this other home and soon the entire family, including 
a son-in-law and some relatives, were led to Jesus, and 
a church of about fifty members was organized in 
Hermenigildo's house. 

Thus the faithful T^'itnessing of this humble, conse- 
crated woman was so honored of the Holy Spirit that 
scores were led into the light of the gospel of Jesus. 
Out of her efforts grew churches which the \iolence of 
the oppressor could not destroy, because the work she 
did became immortal when it passed over into the 
hands of the Lord of Hosts, against whose church not 
even the gates of Hell can prevail. 



CHAPTER XII. 



PERSECUTION. 



Some of the severest persecutions the saints 'have 
ever endured in Pernambuco broke upon this new con- 
gregation in the Ilheitas district. The houses of the 
believers were broken into and everything destroyed, 
some of the buildings were burned. The believers 
asked for police protection, but the police sent to pro- 
tect them being under the domination of the priest, 
who was the political boss of that district, persecuted 
the believers even more than their neighbors had done. 
They drove the believers' about, beating them with their 
swords, forcing them to drink whisky and in many in- 
genious ways heaped indignities upon them. After 
the success of the great persecution in Bom Jardim, of 
which we will speak later, the priest organized a large 
force of men to destroy everything belonging to the 
Protestants in the Ilheitas district and to drive them 
away. They burned all of the church furniture, as 
well as the household furniture belonging to Hermeni- 
gildo, who was forced to flee for his life. They cut the 
cord to the hammock in which was lying his young 
baby. The fall broke the neck of the child. The 
mother was driven unclothed between two lines of sol- 
diers and severely beaten. The other believers were so 
harrassed that most of them were compelled to leave 



88 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

the neighborhood. Hermemgildo stayed away five 
months, when a change in police chiefs in Pernamibuco 
made it possible for him to return. The church was 
reorganized the following year. A new building was 
constructed on Hermenigildo's farm and today, with 
a membership of 103, it is in a most prosperous con- 
dition. 

In the little city of Nazareth the fury of persecution 
has been felt. Not a great while after the church had 
been organized by Dr. Entzminger the farmers in the 
community and the priest combined to drive the 
Protestants out of town. Dr. Entzminger heard of 
their purpose and went up to Nazareth, accompanied 
by a number of soldiers whom the Government had put 
at his disposal. A great throng was collected at the 
station to do violence to the missionar}^ on his arrival, 
but when they saw the soldiers they took to their heels, 
and many came that night to the service to show that 
they were not in the mjob. A jeaT or two later another 
mob broke into the church, poured oil over the furni- 
ture and burned practically everything. The police 
saved the building. Once after this, when Missionary 
Ginsburg was to hold an open-air meeting in this same 
town, a soldier was hired to take his life. The officers 
of the law left town in order that the deed might 
be done without hindrance. The soldier drank whisky 
in order to brace him.self for the deed, and fortunately 
imbibed too much and became so intoxicated that he 
fell asleep. When he awoke the meeting had been held 
and he had missed his chance. These facts were con- 
fessed by the soldier to Dr. Entzminger after the soldier 
had been converted a year later. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 89 

At the railway station at Nazareth we met Primo da 
Fonseca, who had, for the sake of the gospel, lost all 
in a great persecution at Bom Jardim, which is not 
a great distance from Nazareth. He was a reader of 
evangelical literature and preached the gospel all over 
that country, though he had not been baptized. A 
native missionary went into that region, began preach- 
ing and soon afterward gathered a congregation and 
organized a church in Fonseca's home. The political 
boss of the community planned with the Catholics to 
take 800 men into Bom Jardim on the night of April 
15th, 1900, for the purpose of killing all the 
Protestants who were in prayer at Fonseca's house. The 
mob divided into two parties. One party was to ap- 
proach the house from the front and the other from the 
opposite side. A gun was to be fired as a signal for 
the attack. The first party approached the house, which 
was near the theater. Now in the theater at that time 
was gathered a great throng of people. When the 
news came to them of the approach of the mob the 
women thought it was a part of the band of bandits 
led by Antonio Silvino, who is perhaps the most 
famous outlaw of Brazil. All were greatly frightened. 
The Mayor went out to see if he could not do some- 
thing to persuade the mob to leave the town. After 
some parleying they said that inasmuch as the Mayor 
asks, we will turn back. Someone at that time fired a 
shot and shouted, ^'Viva Santa Anna" in honor of the 
patron saint of that city. This signal brought up the 
supporting party at once, who mistook their comrades 
for the believers and fired into them. In the melee 
twenty people were killed and about fifty wounded. 



90 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

All night they were carrying the dead away to burial 
in order that they might cover up the deed as far as 
possible. The Municipal Judge made out a case that 
the Protestants had fired on the Catholics. He pro- 
nounced nineteen as being impHcated. Several escaped, 
six were finally brought to trial. Dr. Entzminger in 
Pernambuco sent lawj^ers and gave such assistance as 
he could. After about two years, Missionary Ginsburg 
ha\dng come also to help in the meantime, the men on 
trial were set free. Fonseca lost all he had in this law 
suit, he being one of those arrested. He was in jail 
four months. He has been deserted by his family. 
When the disturbance occurred he was Marshal of his 
town. Today he lives in Nazareth, poor, deserted, 
faithful. But what cares he for this suffering, poverty 
and desertion as he contemplates the fact that he has 
set a torch of eternal light in his community. The 
church which he finally established wdll bear faithful 
witness in spite of hardships long after all persecution 
has ceased, and he, himself, has gone home to God. 

It was our good fortune to visit the little town of 
Cabo (which means Cape), two hours' ride from 
Pernambuco, where we have a small church, organized 
about two years ago. \Ve were entertained in the home 
of a mechanic who superintends the bridge construc- 
tion along the railroad which passes through the town. 
He takes his Bible with him when he goes to work, 
and wherever he is he preaches the gospel. He told 
us of two station agents along the line who had recently 
accepted Christ through his personal efforts. 

We had a delightful service that night in the 
church, a great throng of people being present, six of 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 91 

whom made public profession of their faith in Jesus. 
After we had returned from the church we sat in the 
little dining roo-m in the rear part of this miaai's house 
until a lat« hour. Some of those who had suffered 
for the cause of the gospel came in to see us, and as 
we sat there in the dim light of the flickering candle, 
they told us of some of their sufferings for the gospel's 
sake. The scene reminded me of what must have 
taken place often in many a dark room in the early 
centuries when the Christians gathered together for the 
sake of comforting each other in their trials. 

Amongst those who were present in this little room 
was brother Honofre, through whose efforts the dhurdh 
at Cabo had been founded. Several years ago he began 
to read a Bible which had been presented to him by 
a man who was not interested in it. He became con- 
verted along with his household. There was a Catholic 
family living opposite to him which he determined 
to reach mth the gospel. After awhile this family 
accepted Christ and the two families began to hold 
worship in their homes. Soon they rented a hall, with 
the aid of a few others, and sent to Pernambuco for a 
missionary to come and organize them into a church. 
TMs man has endured cruel hardships. He hiad to 
abandon his business as a street merchant because the 
people boycotted him. He rented a house, built an 
oven and began to bake bread. Not long after that he 
was put out of this house. Again and yet again he 
had the same experience until recently he has rented 
a house from the same man who provided for our 
church building. He can now make a living. 

The church has had experience similar to that of 



92 BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

it3 founder. It was put out of three rented buildings 
at the instance of the Vicar, who either forced the 
owners to eject or he, himself, bought the property. 
Finally a man who is not a believer, but whose mother 
is, bought the present building and sold it to tne 
church. He is permtitting the church to pay for the 
building in installments of small sums. At last the 
church has a place upon which it can rest the sole of 
its feet and in two years has grown from ten to Miy 
members. On the occasion of our visit six more made 
public confession of Christ before a large audience and 
were received for baptism. 

Out on the cape is a fine lighthouse whicih we had 
admired as we came up the coast on the ship. May 
it be a symbol of the lighthouse which this church 
may become to the storm tossed in that section of 
Brazil. 

Of course, persecution is a painful thing for those 
who are called upon to endure it, but wherever I found 
those who had passed through afflictions they counted 
it all joy to suffer for the cause of Christ, and when- 
ever I attempted to comfort them because of their hard- 
ships, I came away more comforted than they, for the 
reason that their joyous willingness to suffer for His 
sake strengthened my own faith and assured me of the 
ultimat'C triumph of the gospel through the labors of 
such heroic people. Persecution, while it may tem- 
porarily suspend work in a certain place, always de- 
feats its own purpose, and instead of preventing the 
spread of the gospel, is one of the most helpful agencies 
in the growth of the truth. 

A most encouraging illustration of this fact occurred 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 93 

in Pernambuco in 1904. There had been a bitter 
persecution at Cortez, a \^llage not far from Pernam- 
buco. The chief instigator of the trouble was the parish 
priest. The behevers were driven out of the town and 
their lives threatened. The missionary went and was 
also driven out, but returned under the protection of 
some soldiers and conducted gospel sendees through a 
whole week in order to give courage to the believers 
and to demonstrate that the Protestants could not be 
driven out. A news account of this persecution was 
published in a daily paper in Pernambuco. A boy cut 
this article out and gave it to his teacher, a priest in 
the Silesian College. The teacher read the article and 
wrote a letter to Missionary Oannada and asked him to 
come to the college at midnight to explain the gospel. 
Two letters were passed before the missionary finally 
went at midnight to hold a conference. The priest 
came out and discussed the gospel with the missionary 
and then returned to the college, taking with him a 
copy of the New Testament. After a month the mis- 
sionary went again at midnight to the college and the 
priest came away with him once for all. The priest 
went to the home of the missionary and for two 
months studied the Bible, after which time he was con- 
verted. He at onoe began to preach the gospel to his 
friends as he would meet them on the streets. He also 
made a public declaration of his conversion in print. 
The President of the college from which he had gone 
o'btained an interview with him and offered him ever^^ 
inducement to return. His parents disinherited him 
and many other trials came to him, but through all, he 
stood firm. He has just graduated from the Southern 



94 BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

Baptist Theological Seminary, taking tihe Th. D. de- 
gree and has been appointed to teach in the Baptist Col- 
lege and Theological Seminary in Rio. His name is 
Piani. Ahout a year after Piani's conversion he in- 
duced 'another priest to leave the sam^e college. This 
man spent 'a month in the missionary's house studying 
the Bible, but was enticed back by the priests and hur- 
ried away to New York in order that he might escape 
the influence of Piani. Three months after reaching 
New York he was converted and joined the Fifth Ave- 
nue Baptist Church and is today a pastor of a Baptist 
church in Massachusetts. 

In no place where our people have endured perse- 
cution, even though it may have been severe enough 
to cost the lives of some, has the work been aban- 
doned, but in every place the weak, struggling congre-- 
gation which faced obliteration at the fury of iti 
enemy, has in the end increased, and today enjoys tho 
blessing of growth in numbers and in the sympathy 
of the people. Persecution is a good agency in the 
spread of the gospel. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE BIBLE AS A MISSIONARY FACTOR. 

The Bible is a mighty factor in the spread of the 
gospel in Brazil. In 1889 there came down to Bahia 
a man n'amed Queiroz from two hundrod and fifty 
miles in the interior. He eame seeking baptism at the 
hands of Dr. Z. C. Taylor. It appears that some six or 
eight years previous to tihat time an agent of a Bibk 
society had entered this man's community, preadhed 
the gospel and left behind him some copies of the 
Scriptures. One of these Bibles was found afterwards 
by Queiroz, w^ho studied it and was impressed with its 
truth. He began to bring the message of the Word to 
the attention of his large circle of friends and kindred. 
Ha-vdng preached in several places, he was finally asked 
by the district judge to come to his house where he was 
given oppoitunity to meet a number of friends. The 
friends of Queiroz, 'however, began to ask him w^hether 
it was right for him^to be preaching thus before he had 
been baptized, whereupon he resolved to go to Baihia to 
seek baptism. He made the journey and was baptized. 
A week after he had returned he wrote to Dr. Taylor, 
saying he had preached at Deer Forks and had bap- 
tized eight. During the next two weeks similar letters 
were sent, which gave the number he had baptized. 
The church at Bahia was apprized of conditions, and 



96 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

it decided to send Queiroz an invitation to come and re- 
ceive ordination. He came with great humility and 
joy and was ordained, but before the ordination had 
taken place he had already baptized fifty-five people. 
The church at Bahia, after the ordination of Queiroz, 
legalized the baptisms. 

Five years after the baptism of this man Dr. Taylor 
w^as finally able to make the journey to Conquista, 
where he found the church well organized, with a 
house of worship built at its own expense and with the 
pastor's home erected near by. The missionary says, 
''I now understand why God never permitted me to 
visit Conquista during these five years. I believe it 
was for the purpose of showing me that the native 
Christians can and will take care of themselves and the 
gospel if w^e will only confide in them. I wonder how 
many churches in the United States have built their 
own house and pastorium and sustained themselves 
from the start? Not a cent from the Board has been 
spent on the church and the evangelization done by 
Brother Queiroz." 

Another example of the power of fhe Bible in spread- 
ing the gospel is found in the way the gospel came to 
Guandu, State of Rio, and the country round about. 
One night in Campos in 1894, after the missionary had 
finished his sermon, a young woman approached him 
and said, ''My father has been teaching us out of that 
same book you used. Would you not like to go out in 
the country to visit him?" The missionary replied that 
he would, and then the girl explained how the Bible 
uame to this community. 

One evening a colporteur approached her father's 




WHERE FIRST CHURCH WAS 

ORGANIZED, RIO. 
CHURCH AT SAN FIDELIS 
CHURCH IN MANAOS 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. RIO 



FIRST CHURCH. CAMPOS 
FIRST CHURCH. PERNAMBUCO. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 97 

door and asked for entertainment, saying he had been 
refused by several families along the way. To the 
host's inquirs^ as to why he had been refused entertain- 
ment for the night the colporteur said: ''They declined 
because I am a Protestant." The man replied, ''Come 
in and welcome." After the dinner Mr. Vidal (for 
that was the farmer's name) asked what this Protestant- 
ism meant. The colporteur explained and preached 
the gospel to the best of his ability. 

When the time came to retire the colporteur said, "It 
is my custom to read the Scriptures and to pray before 
I retire. If you have no objection I would like to do 
so tonight." Mr. Vidal answered, "I shall be glad for 
you to do so." The colporteur read and there in the 
dining hall before the curious onlookers knelt and 
poured out his heart to his Heavenly Father. He called 
down the blessing and the favor of God upon the 
family., ine tears poured down his cheeks as he lifted 
his soul in this prayer. After he finished praying Mr. 
Vidal said, "I have never heard prayer like that. Teach 
me how to do it. I have heard Latin prayers repeated, 
but they did not grip me like that." The colporteur re- 
plied by explaining that prayer must be from the 
heart. He then took out a Bible and said, "I want to 
m'ake you a present of this book. You have been kind 
to me. Read it, for it has in it the Word of Life." He 
w^ent away the following morning. We do not know 
who he was — only the record on high will discover his 
person to us. 

The book left behind became a great light for Mr. 
Vidal. He read it and was so impressed with its teach- 
ings that he taught the Word to his family and neigh- 



98 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

bors. His house became a house of prayer and teach- 
ing. When Missionary Ginsburg went out there, 
preached the Word and explained about Christ, he 
asked thos^ who wished to follow the Lord to stand. 
Practically the whole company stood. They had be^n 
prepared by Mr. Vidal. The missionary went back a 
few times and soon a church of about forty members 
was organized and was called the Church of Guandu. 

The Word spread up the country first amongst Mr. 
Vidal's relatives and friends. At Santa Barbara the 
station master, Carlos Mendonca, was converted, who is 
now pastor of our church at Cantagallo. He first 
moved to Rio Bonito and founded a church, there, the 
truth spread in other directions also and so the light 
which the unknown colporteur left mth this farmer 
has shed its rays of blessings upon a whole county. 

Twenty-one years ago, a Bible which belonged to a 
Catholic priest, or rather a part of a Catholic Bible, 
fell into the hands of the old mian, Joaquim Borges. 
Through the reading of this Bible, he abandoned 
idolatry and other practices of Rome and put his trust 
solely in the Lord' Jesus for his salvation. For sixteen 
years he resisted all attempts of priests and others to 
turn him back to Rome, always giving a clear and firm 
testimony to the truth of the gospel. During all this 
time he never met with another belie\^er. Hearing of 
him, E. A. Jackson wrote him to meet him in Pilao 
Arcado. He came 120 miles and waited twelve days 
for the arrival of the missionary. As Jackson had 
through passage to Santa Rita, he asked the captain 
to hold the steamer while he baptized Mr. Borges. Be- 
fore administering baptism Jackson preached to the 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 99 

great crowd on the river bank and on the decks of the 
steamer. It was a solemn and beautiful sight to behold 
this man, seventy-seven years of age, following his Lord 
in baptism at his first meeting with a minister of the 
gospel and before a multitude which had never wit- 
nessed such a scene. Dripping from the river, Jackson 
welcomed him into the ranks of God's children. The 
missionary embarked on the steamer and Mr. Borges 
went back to work among his neighbors. Up till the 
present time not even a native minister has visited 
him, for the lack of workers and funds to send them. 
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered 
into the heart to conceive the glorious things God has 
prepared for the man who will go to work for Him 
among the neglected people of the interior of Brazil. 

In the State of Sao Paulo is a boy, Ramiro by 
name, now about thirteen years of age, the only son of 
parents who do not know a letter of the alphabet. In- 
deed, he is the only one in a large connection that has 
been taught to read. 

The family lives about twenty miles from their mar- 
ket town, Mogy das Cruzes, to which they go to sell the 
meager fruits of their labors on the little farm. In 
this town they have some acquaintances, among wnom 
is a believer whose faith had come through reading the 
Bible. This believer one day came into po^ession of 
a Bible which he didn't need, and so he gave it to 
Ramiro, who was then about nine or ten years of age 
and was beginning to learn to read. The little fellow 
trudged home, twenty miles away, carrying his price- 
less present, and showed it joyously to his parents. 
This was the first book that ever entered their humble 



100 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

home, excepting, of course, Rarniro's little school book. 
Curious to know what the book contained, the father 
put Ramiro to deciphering some of its page*. Guided, 
no doubt, by the Holy Spirit, he fell upon the New 
Te3t-ament and laboriously read on and on for months 
and months. The neighbors — all ignorant alike — 
would come and listen to Ramiro spell out sentence 
after sentence, he becoming miore expert as the days 
went by. He would read, they would listen and discuss, 
the Holy Spirit, in the meantime, fixing the sacred 
truth in their hearts. This persistent reading of the 
Word went on for two or three years to a time when 
the Lord opened to Dr. J. J. Taylor, of Sao Paulo, a 
door of opportunity in ^logy das Crazes. He found 
twelve people ready to follow on in the Lord's ordi- 
nance. 

Since that time even more abundant fruit has 
been gathered. Dr. Taylor at first baptized three of 
Ramiro's cousins who hail from the same \dllage 
twenty miles away and recently he baptized the uncle, 
aunt, some more cousins and Ramiro himself. Ramiro 
taught the words of many hynms to his family and 
neighbors. Through him and his book his aged 
gTandparents, ninety years old and bedridden, rejoice 
in the Savior. 

How great must be the might of the Word of God 
which can convert to salvation strong men through 
the faltering lips of a child. And yet, after all, is not 
this the combination which alone is powerful in spread- 
ing the gospel — a simple, child-like heart, through 
which the Word may speak forth? "A little child 
shall lead them," because it can be artless enough to 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 101 

give simple utterance to tbe Word of God. Oh, for 
more in all lands who will give unaffected voice to the 
Word of God ! That message has power in it if it can 
get sincere expression. 

We need to realize more than we do the tran- 
scendent importance of giving wide circulation to 
the Bible in foreign lands. The illustrations given here 
of the wonderful success of the Book should help us to 
reach a better appreciation of the value of the Word of 
God in mission endeavor. Certainly, t)here is mar- 
velous power in it. Its enemies fear its might; there- 
fore, they fight desperately to prevent the circulation of 
it. Would that we could have as keen a realization of 
the vitality of this Book as do its enemies. Surely then, 
we would do far more for the sowing of the Scriptures 
beside all waters. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE METTLE OF THE NATIVE CHKISTIAN. 

Ini 1894, FrancisoQ da Silva, s'oon after his conver- 
sion in BaMa, went to Victoria in the State of Espirito 
Santo to live. He went into ^the interior with some sur- 
veyiors, and in addition to the work he was called upon 
to do, he found timle to^ tell the story of Jesus. Eight 
people were converted and he wrote Dr. Z. C. Taylor to 
come and baptize them. 

Dr. Taylor was not able to go immedialtely, -and 
one of the men secured his baptism in a very unique 
way. He asked Francisco to baptize him. Francisco 
replied that he could not because he was not ordained. 
The man returned home and examined his Bible and 
came back a few days later and demanded again that 
Francisco baptize him. Francisco replied that in order 
to baptize, oine must be ordained. ^^No," said the man, 
^^I have looked in the Bible and I do not find it neces- 
sary for one to be ordained in order tO' baptize." 8xj 
catching hold of Francisco, he pulled him: along to a 
liver near by, Francisco through it all holding back 
the biest he could and arguing with the man that he 
could not baptize him. But the man constrained him 
and forced him into the river. Francisco seeing his 
zeal, performed the ceremony. Some question after- 
ward was raised about the validity of this baptism, and 



104 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

the man was baptized regularly by the same Francisco, 
who had in the meantime received ordination. 

When he had finished with one party of surveyors 
another wanted to employ him, and they went to the 
first party to find out about him. The men said: ''He 
has fine qualifications for the position, but there is one 
objection to him — he is a Protestant." ''Ah, said the 
second party, "can't we with a little money get that out 
of him?" "No," replied the first, "it seems to be grown 
into him." He was taken by the second party, the 
chief of which and all his family soon became devoted 
Christians. 

The desire to tell the storj^ of Jesus burned in Fran- 
cisco's heart so warmly that he gave up 'his lucrative 
employment with the sun^eying party, bought a mule 
and other necessities for his journey and started out to 
proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to the people 
of that State. He was remarkably successful and soon 
gathered about him a little band of believers, who, be- 
cause of their faithfulness to Christ, were called upon 
to suffer severe persecution. They were compelled to 
flee into the distant mountains where Missionary Jack- 
son afterward found them, organized them into a 
church and baptized seventy-five converts. Later they 
were able to return to their homes, due to the fact that 
a more lenient administration was inaugurated in Vic- 
toria. Very soon afterward our faithful missionary, L. 
M. Reno, was sent to this State, and the work from this 
good beginnang has had remarkable prosperity. The 
pioneer missionarv^, da Silva, after having gained the 
title of xlpostle to the State of Espirito Santo, was called 
in 1910 to his reward. 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 105 

From what we have been saying, you have no doubt 
maide many inferences about the kind of Christians 
these Brazilians make. If you had seen them face to 
face, you would have been, as I was, impressed with 
their appearance. They were the best-looking people I 
saw. Their countenances were clearer and there was a 
hopeful, resourceful look upon them that was not no- 
ticeable upon the non-believers. Sin amd fear always 
break the spirit of men, and though there may be a 
brave look assumed, yet there always hangs a cloud 
over the countenance of the sin-stained and fear-driven 
man, be he a religionist or atheist. This change in ap- 
pearance is produced by a change in their way of liv- 
ing. T\%en they are converted they cease drinking, 
gam'bling, Sabbath-breaking, and often the men give 
up smoking and the women cease taking snuff. 
The fact is they sometimes are extreme upon this 
subject. I heard of one church that made the giving 
up of tobacco and another the laying aside of jewelrj^ 
the test of fellowship. These people coming out from 
under the domination of a religion of fear into tihe 
light and liberty of the gospel are changed from glory 
to glory, ha^dng upon them the light of God's counte- 
nance. 

They are liberal givers. There is a much larger pro- 
portion of tithers among them than among the Ohris- 
ti-aiis in the States. Here, too, they often go to ex- 
tremes. More than one church in Brazil miakes tithing 
obligatory upon its membens. Last year the Brazilian 
Baptists gave as much per capita for foreign missiong 
ari did the Baptists in our Southern States. They have 
set their aim this year higher than tihe Southern Bap- 



106 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

tists have. They sustain foreign mission work in OMli 
and Portugal. They engage in thia foreign mission en- 
(iea\x)r because the leaders think that the foreign mis- 
sion principle is vital to the life and development of 
the dhurches. This giving -to foreign missions is not 
to the neglect of their home enterprises, They have 
Home and State Mission Boarda which they support 
liberally. They have an Education Boaird to which 
they gave forty cents per capita last year and all of this 
giving out of such grinding poverty 1 

Here and there are people of larger means who are 
munificent in their gifts. It was the generous offer 
of $5,000 by Oapfcain Egydio that made possible the 
founding of the CoUegio Americano Eg^-dio, which 
school wai? established by the Taylors in Bahia. He 
paid $650 the first installment upon the furniture, but 
his sudden taking off prevented the college from realiz- 
ing the whole amount promised, because the family lost 
so hea\'i]y by persecution after the father had been 
taken aw^y. Ool. Benj. Nogueira Paranagua, a rich 
cattleman, built a, church, school and library building 
at Corrente in the State of Piauhy at his own expense 
and afterward paid the salary of a teacher for the 
school. When the dhurch in San Fidelis, which was 
established in the face of trying persecution, was con- 
sidering how it could possibly build a meeting house, a 
coffee farmer, who was not yet a member, rose and 
said: "I am old and useless, but I wsini to do ^me- 
thing for Jesus and His church. I, therefore, offer to 
erect the c'hurch building and the church may pay me 
six per cent, annually until I die, and then the build- 
ing will belong to the church as a legaicy wtich I in- 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 107 

tend to leave." As the work on the house progressed 
he signified his desire to be the first one to be baptized 
in the baptistry. This was granted gladly and his 
thought of charging six per cent, on the building until 
his death disappeared in Hhe watery grave and he made 
the church a present outright of the beautiful chapel. 
Not only this chiapel has been built by an individual, 
but others have been built in the same way. Usually, 
however, the churches are built out of the sac- 
rificial offerings of the people. So well has this 
church building movement progressed that now 
about one-third of the 142 Baptist Churches organized 
in Brazil wor^ip in their own buildings ,and with 
a few exceptions, these buildings have been erected 
by the gifts of the people and not by the gifts of the 
Poreign Mission Board. The Presbyterians show a 
better proportion of buildings than this and the Meth- 
odists quite as goood. 

The subject of self-support is a live one. There has 
been good progress made in this mtatter, but, of course, 
it will require many years to teach thie churches their 
full duty in this regard. Many churches have reached 
the point where they take care of all local expenses. 
Some of the missionaries go so far as to advocate 
not organizing any more churches until the congrega- 
tions can be self-supporting. The South Brazilian Mis- 
sion, in its recent meeting, adopted the rule that no 
church should be organized hereafter until it could pay 
at last 60 per cent, of its own expenses — ^these expenses 
to include the care of the house, the salary of the n<ative 
pastor, etc. 

I have already cited instances of personal work. , I 



108 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

wish to say more particularly that the great succ^ 
which has attended the work in Brazil must be in a 
large measure attributed to the fact that those who 
have been led to Christ h-ave been zealous in wit- 
neesing personally to others of the grace which bad 
been bestowed upon them. 

One of the greatest laymen in Brazil is our Brother 
Thomaz L. da Costa. He is the Superintendent of a 
very considerable business firm in Bahia. He is a 
deacon in the First Baptist Church, one of the mov- 
ing spirits upon the Brazilian Foreign Mission Board 
and practically superintends the work of the Stat© 
Mission Board of Bahia. 

Years ago he was converted in Rio through the 
agency of his washerwoman. This faithful woman 
is a member of the First Baptist Church. She decided 
she would attempt to lead Thomaz to Christ. So on 
Saturday wthen she would bring his laundry she would 
in^dte him to come to her house on the following day 
for dinner. I might say by way of parenthesis, that 
there is not a steam laundry in Brazil. All of the 
laundr}^ work is done by hand. Sometimes there is 
quite a considerable firm which employs many laun- 
dresses. Thomaz, after declining the good woman's 
invitation many times, finally one day decided he 
would accpt. it. 

On Sunday he appeared at her house for dinner. 
After the dinner was over she suggested that they, in 
company with several of her children, should take a 
stroll through some of the parks. They passed through 
the great park in the center of the city, and after a 
wOiile they found themselves in front of a building in 



BEAZILIAN SKETCHES. 109 

which they heaird singing. The good woman suggested 
that they go upstairs into the hall from whieh pro- 
ceeded the sounds of the music. They went in, Thom'az 
not knowing what son of place it was. Dr. Bagby, the 
first missionary of our board to Brazil, was conducting 
ai service and soon began a sermon which impressed 
Thomaz very greatly. The sermon drew such a picture 
of his Hfe that he accused the woman of having told 
Dr. Bagby about him. She had not done so, she de- 
clared, and this fact impressed Thomaz even more. 

Next Saturday, when she brought his laundry, she 
invited him to take dinner with her again on Sunday, 
but he was too shrewd for her and declined, saying 
that he understood her purpose. The message which 
he had heard in the sermon, however, stayed with him. 
On the following Saturday the good womian again in- 
vited him to take dinner with her on Sunday. He 
declined. \\%en the third Saturday came, before she 
had time to extend her usual invitation, he said: ^'I 
am coming to dinner with you tomorrow." He went 
according to promise, and after the meal had been 
finished, they did not take a round-about course, but 
went directly to the church, and there the man listened 
to the gospel again and gave himself to Christ. He has 
not missed a service since unless providentially hin- 
dered. I asked him if he was sorry of the step he had 
taken and he replied: "l^o, indeed. It is as Paul says, 
^A salvation not to be repented of.' " 

There can be but one inevitable result to such faith- 
ful witnessing as this. One of the most hopeful signs 
in connedtion with the work in Brazil is the fact that a 
large percentage of the members of the church'es en- 



110 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

deavor to lead others to Christ in a personial way. A 
large percentage of them will conduct public services 
wherever the opportunity can he found. In the First 
Baptist Church in Rio there are more than twenty men 
who will go out and conduct public services. They are 
not skilled preachers. They may have very limited 
education, but they can take the Book, read it, explain 
its message through the light of their own individual 
•experiences, and by this means of witnessing to the 
power of the saving grace of God in their own lives, 
they are able to lead many to Jesus. Is not this after 
all the kind of preaching our Lord has sent us into the 
world to do? 

The severest persecution whidh these Brazilian Ohris- 
tians are called upon to endure is not that which comes 
to them when they are stoned, or when their property 
may be destroyed or whon their business may be taken 
away from them through boycotts or when tihey may 
be turned into the streets through the bitter hatred of 
hard-heiarted priests, but the most trying persecution is 
that whidi comes from tlho insinuating remark, the 
sn-eer of the supercilious and the doubt of the envious. 
The taunt of hypocrisy is often thrown into the teeitlh 
of native Christians. Their motives are frequently im- 
pugned. I was profoundly impressed witih the answer 
tihey usually give to sudh persecutions. They reply by 
saying: ''See how we live. Note the difiFerence between 
our careers now and our careers before we became 
Christians." And this challenge of the life is the one 
which will finally answer the ridicule and doubt of all 
who assail theml. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE TESTING OF THE MISSIONARY. 

In thinking of the missionary, most of us dwell upo'n 
the heroic self-denial he practices and the bravery with 
which he faces the gravest dangers. Certainly, the mis- 
sionary in Brazil is due a good sihare of such apprecia- 
tion. He has been called upon to endure shameful in- 
dignities, painful peTsonal dangers and the enervating 
perils of a hostile climate. Our own missionaries have 
been beaten, stoned, (thrown into streams, arrested and 
haled before courts, shot at and in many instances 
saved only by the moist signal dispensations of Provi- 
dence. Dr. Bagby, our first missionary, in spite of 
stoning and arrest when he was baptizing converts in 
Bahia, kept feaillessiy on in his endeavor to lead the 
people to Christ. Dr. Z. C. Taylor traveled through 
the interioT of Balhia State in perils of robbers, in perils 
of fanatics, in perils of infuTiated priests 'and in perils 
of bloodthirsty persecutors without fear or shrinking. 
In the spring of 1910 Solomon Ginsburg was set upon 
by a mob 'at Itabopoana, which opened fire with such 
perilous directne^ that one bullet flattened upon the 
wall a few inches above his head. 

This same missioniary in 1894 endured' bitter perae- 
cutions w'hen he 'attempted to open the work at San 
Fidelis in the interior of the State of Rio de Janeiro. 



112 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

A mob of a thousand people fbliTew stx)nes, grass, com 
and a great miscellany of other objects at him and his 
little band of worshipers. The howling of the mlob pre- 
vented him from preaching. The best that could be 
done waa to sing songs. Finally, a stone having struck 
a girl in the congregaition, he carried her out through 
the infuriated mob to a drug store across the street, 
where she was resuscitated, and he returned to Mb 
service of song. 

Next morning he was called to the police headquar- 
ters and the officer forbade him to preach. He asked 
what the missionary was doing there, to which he re- 
plied, '^To preach the gospel." The missionary 
was then prohibited from preaching in the province. 
He replied that he wias sorry he could not obey, for 
he had superior orders. He could not accept orders 
from the police, nor the Governor, nor even from tlhe 
President of the Republic. The officer asked who this 
superior authority was. The missionary replied it was 
Grod. God had told him to go preach the gospel in 
all the world to every creature; gome of God's creaitures 
were in San Fidelis and he was there to preach accord- 
ing to the command of his Lord. The police officer, 
after plying him with insulting epithets, kept him a 
prisoner of the State as a disturber of the peace. On 
the following day he was sent to the State prison at 
Nictheroy, where he was confinied for ten days. 
Friends, through the solicitation of Mrs. Ginsburg, 
brought pressure to bear upon the Government and the 
missionary was released. He was requested then as a 
personal favor not to return until after the naval revolt, 
which was then in progress, should be suppressed and 




BAGBY SCHOOL, SAO PAX'LO 
NOVA FEIBURGO SCHOOL. EIO COLLEGE AND SEMINARY 

GILREATH COLLEGE, PERNAMBUCO. BAHIA SCHOOL BUILDING 



BKAZILIAN SKETCHES. 113 

a degree of quiet oould be restoTed to the State. Being 
thus requested, he remained away fro'm San Fidelis 
awidle. 

When th>e revolt was suppressed he returned to San 
Fidelis and persecution arose again. He appealed to the 
chief officer of the State and fifty soldiers were sent 
tO' his relief. In choosing these fifty soldiers the officer 
asked for believers to volunteer. Twenty-five responded. 
He 'asked then for sympathizers and twenty-five more 
volunteered. These were put under the command of 
the missionary, ^ho instructed t)hem not to appear 
armed at the church. They came unarmed, but When 
the mob began to thrown stiones again and refused to 
respect the soldiers, they pounced upon the evil doers 
and there was a rough and tumble fight. Several were 
bruised considerably and a number of limbs were 
broken, but after this conflict the persecution ceased. 

We relate these incidents for the purpose of making 
it clear that our missionaries have been called upon to 
suffer greatly for the cause of Ohrist. Every missionary 
who has been in Brazil any length of timie has felt the 
weight of personal, physical persecution, and all in the 
gravest dangers have conducted themselves as became 
the heroic character with which they are so splendidly 
endowed. And this suffering, we are sorry to say, is 
not yet over. For many years to come the desperate 
and despotic hand of Rome, which could in the n:ame 
of religion invent the horrible inquisition and organize 
the bloodthirsty order of Jesuits, has not <^hanged its at- 
titude completely and will resist desperately to the last 
the inevitable progress of Protestantism in Brazil. 
Let me hasten, however, to say that it is very easy to 



114 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

get the wrong impression of what the heroism of the 
missionary ctonsiste. It is easy for us to think it consists 
in his willingness to face personal d'anger. If 
each an id^a should obtain amongst us per- 
manently and alas, it has persisted laltogether too 
long ; it will rob the story of missions of its true interest 
and hazard appreciation of the enterprise upon the 
ability of the historian to find thrilling tales of adven- 
ture to gratify the appetite of the sensation-loving 
public. 

The most trying thing to the missionary is not tlhe 
immiinence of personal danger, but the ever-present 
chilling, benumbing indifference of the people to the 
gospel. Even though here and there we find large num- 
bers of people who are ready to accept the gospel, let 
us not dceive ourselves into the belief that all Brazil 
is eagerly seeking to enter the Kingdom of God. The 
Macedonian call to Paul did not come from a whole 
nation which was ready to accept his teaching, but 
from one man in a nation. Most all Macedonian calls 
are like that. The few, comparatively speaking, rise (to 
utter sudh calls and these few are the keys of opportu- 
nity which may be used to unlock whole Empires The 
great body of the people in Brazil (and this is espe- 
cially true of the educated classes) are as indifferent to 
the gospel as people are most anywhere else. It is tlie 
weight of this stolid indifference which tries the 
endurance of the missionary. It fills the very atmos- 
pihere he breathes and hangs a dark cloud over his 
horizon. Which only his faith in God and the win- 
ning of occasional converts graciously tinge with a sil- 
ver lining. It is indifference, slowly yielding indiffer- 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 115 

ence that tests the temper of t!he missionary character. 
There are times when a bit of physical perscution 
would afford a positive relief to the fatigue of his ex- 
acting career. 

The days of the pioneer missionary, with their per- 
sonal dangers, have in a measure passed. The years 
of the persecutor in the face of an increasingly more 
enlightened civilization are numbered. The prob- 
ability of personal perils is gro'wing steadily less. The 
missionary mu^ now fight for a hearing before a 
public whida is too often willing to let him alone. In 
many places it does not care enough for his message to 
persecute him for bringing it. It is ready to patronize 
him with an assumed air of liberality and resist the 
message which burns in 'his heart, and upon his lips. 
They are willing for him to speak, but not willing to 
listen to what he has to say. He must fight for a hear- 
ing with this patronizing indifference. It is this that 
tries Ms spirit. It is this that bleeds his heart of its 
Btrength. It is this that calls out the heroic in him as 
never does the dart of the savage, the weapon of the 
fanatic or the fury lof the mob. To hold on true to 
his purpose in the face of such soul^harrowing indif- 
ference is the crowning act of heroism upon the part- of 
our missionaries. No one of them has ever drawn back 
and given up his work for fear of death at the hands 
of his persecutors, but it must be said for the sake of 
the truth that some hai\^e succumbed before the rigors 
of blasting indifference. The saints at home ought to 
support valiantly mih their prayers our missionaries 
who at the front are engaged in a battle even imto 



116 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

death with indifferent souls unwilling tO' accept their 
messiage. 

There is another count in this subject of indifference 
to which we at home should give more prayerful con- 
sideration. It is the failure of the chur(^hes at home 
to send out an adequate numher of missionarieg to re- 
inforce the workers at the front and make it possible 
for them to take advantage of the opportunities that 
have come to them already. What could take the 
spirit out of a man more quickly than the feeling that 
those w^ho had sent him out do not care enou^ about 
him to give him support and reinforcements for his 
work? It is a shame upon us that we at home add 
another burden to our missionaries by failing to loyally 
support them. \Vh.at must be a man's thoughtsi after 
he has toiled and sacrificed on a field for years and has 
unceasingly begged for a mere titihe of the helpers he 
really needs and w'hich we fail to send? 

V/hen that brave garrison of English soldiers were 
shut up in Lady Smith, South Africa, during lihe Boer 
\Yar their courage to hold out against overwhelming 
odds and on insufficient rations through many weeks 
was kept up by the assurance that the patriotic English 
nation was doing its utmost to send relief, though the 
relief was long delayed. If the thought that their 
home people were not trying to send succor to them 
had ever taken possession of their minds, they would 
have surrendered forthwith. Their line of communi- 
cation was cut, but they teew hdlp was coming, and 
so they held out with grim determination until relief 
came. 

How is it with our misisionaries in Brazil? Their 



BEAZILIAN SKETCHES. 117 

lines of communication are intact. Thiey know their 
people at tome are able to supply them with the help 
they need and yet the help does not come. What must 
be the conclusion forced upon them and what must 
be the effect upon them? Either the churches, though 
able, will not give the means to send out missionaries, 
or the nien for reinforcement will not volunteer. It 
may be that both causes are at work. What is the 
matter when a pu'lpit comttnittee of a prominent church 
can have sixty names suggested to it of men who might 
become its pastor, and a good percentage (save the 
mark) of these direct applications, when our small 
missionary force in Brazil is pleading for only ten men 
to be sent out to relieve them in their strain? What- 
ever explanation we may have to offer for these things, 
the fact remains that our indifference to the call of our 
men at the front adds an additional weight to their 
already too heavy load, and yet, in spite of it all, they 
are standing with unflinching heroism at their poets. 

Something must be done to relieve this situation. 
Counting all denominations, there are in Brazil fewer 
missionaries today in proportion to the population 
than there are either in India or China. Why this diis- 
parity of workers in Brazil? Is it because the work is 
not successful there? The facts show that, taking into 
consideration the numiber of workers, it is one of the 
most fruitful of all mission fields. Is it because there 
is less need of the gospel? I believe I have shown 
that these people are bereft of the gospel, ^and because 
of their sin and idolatry are as needy as are to be found 
anywhere. No, there is no excuse to be offered. Our 
workers at the front need help. We are trying their 



118 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

brave spirits by witbbolding the relief tbey have a 
right to expect, and yet we repeat they are holding on 
with a courage that stamps them as heroes of the finest 
tyj>e. God help us to see our obligation to send 
out recruits in sufficiently large numbers to re- 
lieve these brave soldiers and transform them from a 
besieged garrison into an aggressive army of con- 
querors. 

Let us bear in mind that TV^hat is said about indif- 
ference both on the foreign field and among the 
churches at home is spoken of the people in the large. 
Thank God, the light is breaking in many places' at 
home and abroad. Many individuals and churches are 
today seeing the larger vision and are assuming their 
larger responsibility in the support of the foreign mis- 
sion cause. Many are saying: ''We will faithfully 
strengthen the hands- of our brothers who toil &o 
■courageously at the front." In Brazil (and in other 
mission fields, too,) there is in many places a marvel- 
ous breaking away from the old attitude of indifference. 
The little handful of missionaries we have on the field 
are straining every nerve to meet the opportunities 
that are pressing upon them. They are not discour- 
aged. They are as busy as life trying to meet the in- 
creasing demands. They are looking to the future with 
the largest hope. They are a band of the most incur- 
able optimists you ever saw. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE URGENT CALL. 

This very breaking arway in some places is piling up 
additional burdens and the pitifully inadequate force 
is called upon to meet demands that twice their number 
could hardly satisfy. If we had the same distribution of 
Baptisti ministers in our Southern country that we have 
in Brazil there would be only four ministers in Texas, 
Wo in Virginia, three in Georgia and other States in 
like proportion. Think of E. A. Nelson, the only rep- 
resentative of our board in the Amazon region, trying 
to spread Mmiself over four States w^hich comprise a 
territory five tim'es as large as Texas. Passing down 
the coast, five days' journey, we would find D. L. 
Hamilton and H. H. Muirhead, who have faced dan- 
gers 'as fearlessly as have any brave spirits who have 
enrichied the annals of missionary history wiQi cour- 
ageous service. Th^y, along with Miss Voorheis, are 
our sole representatives in the State of Pernam- 
buco and in the ladjoining State of Alagoas. C. F. 
Stapp, Solomlon Ginsburg and E. A. Jackson are at- 
tempting to carry forward the work in the vast States 
of Piauhy, Goyaz, a part of Minas Geraes, and 
B'ahia, which last named State has in it one city 
as large las New Orleans. E. A. Jackson is 
located far in the interior of the State, three 



120 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

■weeks' journey from Balhm; 'all of the energies of 
Stapp are consumed in caring for the sdhool ; Ginsburg 
is forced to give his attention to the nurturing of the 
thirty-five churches and of evangehzing as far as his 
strength will go. In the State beyond them, going down 
the coast, strands L. M, Reno, in the State of 
Espirito Santo. In the populous State of Kio, in 
which is located the capital city with its 1,000,000 in- 
habitants, we have Entzminger, Shepard, Langston, 
Maddox, Oannada, Christie, Taylor and Cropland. Entz- 
minger, in addition to conducting the publishing 
house, must also conduct the mission operations in 
Nictlh'eroy, a city of 40,000; Shepard, Taylor and 
Langston have placed upon their shouldeTs the 
tremendous responsibility of conducting the college 
and seminary; Oannada must give his energies 
to the Flumenense School for Boys, leaving 
only Maddox, Christie and Crosland at liberty to 
do the wider evangelistic work and care for tihe mlany 
churches which the success of their labors have thrust 
upon them. Crosland has been transferred recently 
to Bello Horizonte, in the great State of Minas Geraes. 
Farther South, in Sao Paulo, the richest and most 
progressive State in the country, are Bagby, 
Deter and Edwards, Misses Carroll, Thomas and 
Grove. Bagby and wife and the young ladies just 
mentioned devote their time to the sdhool, leaving only 
two to man a field which, because of its splendid 
railroad facilities, has in it scores of inviting locations 
for successful work. In Paranagua in the next State 
to the South, have been located recently P. E. Petti- 
grew and wife. Far down to the South in Rio 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 121 

Grande do 'Sul, a State as large as Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky com'bined, stands a single sentinel in the person 
of A. L. Dunstan. What a battle line for twenty men 
to maintain! It is more than 4,000 miles in length. 
If you should place these men in line across our South- 
ern territory, locating the first one in Baltimore, you 
would travel 100 miles before you reach the second, 100 
miles before you reach the third, 100 miles to the 
fourth, and in going toward the Southwest, you would 
reach the twentieth man in El Paso, Tex. "Whereas, 
if you were to draw up the Baptist ministers enrolled 
in the Southern Baptist Convention territory along the 
same line and pass down it to make the count, by the 
time you had reached El Paso you would have passed 
8,000 men, for they would have been placed just one- 
fourth of a mile apart. 

Why do we need 400 ministers in this country to one 
in Brazil? Is it possible that we will grudgingly cling 
to our 8,000 ministers and decline to give even eight 
to reinforce our little handful in Brazil? Suc/h a 
division of forces can neither be fair nor faithful. 

In drawing this picture I have practically stated the 
situation for the other denominations. The Presby- 
terians occupy the same general territory as do the 
Baptists with an equal number of missionaries. The 
Methodists have somewhat more compactly stationed 
about the same number of missionaries as each of the 
other two, while the Episcopalians, the Congregational- 
iets and the Evangelical Mission of South America 
combined add a number about equal to each of the 
three larger denominations. A total of less than 100 
ordained missionaries scattered over a territory larger 



122 BEAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

than the United States of North America, which allows 
about four missionaries to each Brazilian State. Add 
to this num'ber the wives of the missionaries, the thirty- 
seven unmarried women and the 125 native w^orkers 
and the entire missionary 'body, foreign and native, 
barely totals 300. How utterly inadequate is such a 
force in the presence of such vast needs ! Because this 
situation has in it a call so apparent and so inexpress- 
ibly urgent it is impossible to portray it in words. 

The ripeness of the State of Piauhy for evangeliza- 
tion will illustrate the urgency of the opportunity all 
over Brazil. As far back as 1893 Dr. Nogueira 
Paranagua, who was at that time National Senator 
from his State, urged Dr. Z. C. Taylor to send a man 
into Piauhy and promised to ^help pay the expenses. 
Two years lator Col. Benj. Nogueira, the brother of 
the Senator, gave a similar invitation, making a 
promise that he would sustain a missionary. It was not 
until 1901 that E. A. Jackson was able to reach Col. 
Benjamin's home. He prefached the gospel in this good 
man's house and also in Corrente, the town near by. 
Persecution, bitter and determined, arose. There were 
three attempts to take Jackson's life in one day. Once 
Col. Benjamin stepped in between the assassin and the 
missionary and thus saved the missionary's life. Some 
months later, upon the return of the missionary. Col. 
Benjamin, who had been for so many years a friend 
to the gospel, gave himself to it and was baptized. In 
Januar}^, 1904, the new house of worship at Corrente 
was dedicated. It was built by Col. Benjamin at his 
own expense. He also built a school building and 
library, and afterward when the missionary was able 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 123 

to secure a teacher, this generous man paid all tihe 
charges. 

When we reached Brazil last summer I received a 
message from Judge Julio Nogueira Paranagua, a 
nephew of Col. Benjamin, w*ho is one of the Circuit 
Judges in the State of Piauhy and who after a Short 
w<hile is to be retired upon his pension, according to 
the Brazilian law. As soon as this takes place he ex- 
pects to give himself entirely to the work of evangeliz- 
ing his own people. The menage ran: ^The State of 
Piauhy is open to the gospel. There is a fight on 
between the priests and the better classes. The better 
educated people, disgusted with Romanism and priest- 
hood, are drifting into materialism and atheism, but 
if a competent man could be situated at Therezina, the 
capital, the whole State could easily be won to the 
gospel." 

His imcle, who is President of our Brazilian Con- 
vention, as we have already stated, w^hose family em- 
braces in its immediate connection over a thousand 
people, in a letter written me after I left Rio, rein- 
forces this appeal. He says: 

''I come to call your attention to the State of Piauhy, 
the field in Brazil at present which seems to me to be 
the best prepared for evangelization. Many things 
have contributed to bring this about. The Masons, on 
the one hand, have done the most they possibly could 
against Romanism; on the other hand, the propa- 
ganda sincere and ferv^ent of a small church founded in 
the southern part of the State, which happily is receiv- 
ing the greatest blessing from Almighty Ood, is greatly 
contributing to the reception of the gospel throughout 



124 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

the State. My bratiier, Ool. Benj. Nogueira, the founder 
of that church, has passed away, but he has left sons 
w'ho are spiritual and who continue to work. With 
the work developed there it will spread beneficently. In 
the adjoining townships there exist many believers, 
and a church will be founded soon in Paranagua, a 
town situated on the beautiful lake by the same name. 
In the cities of Jerumenha and Floriano there are 
already small churches, which united to the others 
in assiduous labors, will powerfully contribute to the 
evangelization of the State, which is one of the most 
promising of Northern Brazil. My friend, Senator 
Gervazio de Britto Passo, strongly desires that a minis- 
ter of the goispel come to the section where he is most 
influential. This Senator greatly sympathizes with our 
cause and is convinced that his numlerous and influen- 
tial friends as soon as enlightened by a pastor as to 
w'hat the religion of the Baptists is, will unite with 
them, becoming evangelical. Tho best moment to 
move in that State is the present one, when so many 
causes concur for our evangelical development. The 
population of Piauhy, which is over 500,000, will in- 
crease considerably as well as its economic wealth. 

"1 hope that you will not leave this field without 
pastors, where the gospel is being received as the great- 
est benefit to which the people can aspire for their 
civilization." 

It was my good fortune to meet the present Senator 
from the State of Piauhy aboard the ^hip as he went 
up the coast, and he, while not a Protestant, urged 
upon me the importance of our heeding the call of 
this Nogueira family and personally assured me that 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 125 

he would do his utmost to see that sudh a missionaTy 
would have the widest opportunity to preach the gospel 
to the people. This must be a Maeedonian call, which 
we hope to soon be able te heed. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE LAST STAND OF THE LATIN RACE. 

There was a timie in the life of the Anglo-Saxon race 
When it became necessary for at least a portion of it to 
go out into a new country in crder that it might adhieve 
the larger 'destiny it was to fulfill in the world. Gcd 
was behind that exodus as truly as he was behind the 
transplanting of Abraham into a new environment. 
Here in our country, unfettered by despotic traditions 
and precedents, the Anglo-Saxon achieved religious and 
political liberty with a rapidity 'and thoroughness that 
could not have been possible in the old Continent of 
Europe. 

Likewise also did God separate the Latin race from 
continental oppression that it might grow a better man-- 
hood in the freer atmosj^here of the Western World. 
It is true that the Latin movement was not prompted 
by the same miotive that impelled the Anglo-Saxon. 
Instead of the love of liberty, he was led out by the 
lure of gold. Nevertheless, we must believe the final 
result will be the same or else disbelieve in the ultimate 
triumph of the guidance of God. We should not 
despair of the success of this providential miovement. 

In South America is to be witnessed the last stand 
of the Latin race. There God has given him one last 
chance to achieve a religious character which will 



128 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

honor Hs Lord. It is tlie duty of ihis Northern brother 
to sympathize with him and to believe in his lability to 
build up a character worthy of himself and God. If 
we cannot bring ourselves to such a belief it is useless 
for us to expect to be helpful, and it is unfaithful in us 
to expend money upon a people when we are confident 
it will be wasted. 

We must not forget that these people are the de- 
scendants of the Caesars, of Seneca, Napoleon — the race 
that ruled the world for fifteen centuries. They surely 
have not lost all of their virility. It must be a case of 
wasted strength. We believe that this race has in it 
the poissibility of rejuvenation. Lavaleye, the great 
Belgian political economist, very probably spoke the 
truth when he said that the Latin race is equal to the 
Anglo-Saxon, the only difference being the gospel 
which the Protestants preach and live. 

We shall be helpful in our effort to give him the 
proper sympathy if we remember the handicaps under 
which he has labored. He was satisfied with his old 
fossilized religion, which had taught him to believe 
that despotism is a virtue. He did not, therefore, come 
to America for liberty. The early settlers were the 
veriest adventurers of whom the gold lust m;ade para- 
gons of cruelty and crime. They brought with them 
the intriguing priest w^ho would corrupt the Kingdom 
of Heaven in order to maintain his power. There was 
no intentional break with their old life. The light 
that guided them to America was the yellow light of 
gold and not the white light of righteousness. The 
first result Was that there developed in the untram- 
meled West the most unreasoning despotism, the most 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 129 

unblushing robbery and the most shamelessly <?orrupt 
priestcraft. So this whole transplanted miass of the 
worst intolerance, most insatiable greed and the most 
corrupt priesthood that Europe has ever produced, had 
to be taught from the beginning on the new soil, the 
elements of the higher manhood they so desperately 
needed. They had learned no first lesson in Europe, 
and therefore their first lesson in America was to un- 
learn the very things that constituted their central 
life and thought in Europe. 

What progress has this providential teaching of the 
Latins in the New World made? So swiftly did they 
learn the lessons of liberty that hardly had the con- 
flict which won complete freedom for the United States 
closed before the inevitable struggle for the same price- 
less heritage was in full swing in all Latin-America. 
And be it said to their everlasting credit that this 
sacred cause, in spite of revolutions 'and reactions, 
which at times hazarded the w*hole scheme, has made 
steady advance, all critics to the contrary, nothwith- 
standing. Political liberty is potentially at least 
achieved in South America, It is written in the Con- 
stitutions of the Republics and in the purposes of the 
people. While many battles will be fought to establisih 
it in detail, yet the principle is so well established that 
it will never be uprooted, provided we give the moral 
and educational aid we should render at this critical 
hour. 

We have come upon a time when we must give to 
our South American brothers unstinted support. They 
have attained political freedom, but they have not yet 
gained religious freedom). Nothing can be more 



130 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

anomolous than a State with political freedom fostering 
a State religion that is desperately and unscrupulously 
intolerant. No genuine Republic can support a State 
religion. The two will not live together. One or the 
other must go, as the history of France will abundamtly 
substantiate. One result is inevitable — the- people will 
eventually repudiate the despotic religion and drift into 
atheism and infidelity. Indeed, such a thing is hap- 
pening in South America today. The better educated 
classes are being set hopelessly adrift religiously and 
the more ignorant, the common people, are following 
idolatry. Neither have the gospel preached to them. 
The Bible is withheld. Suc^h a state of affairs is a loud 
call to us. 

If these people are left without a vital, character 
building religion they will, because of their volatile 
natures, degenerate into the grossest perversions of 
morality. In such an event the Monroe Doctrine itself 
would become a menace. Unless we give these people 
the gospel it will be far better to annul the Monroe 
Doctrine and permit the stronger nations of Europe 
to enter for the sake of good government and morality. 
We must either carry to our Latin brothers the re- 
generating, uplifting, energizing gospel of Jesus, or 
step out of the way and let England and Germany 
interpose their strong arms to prevent one of the miost 
colossal catastrophies of all time in the moral collapse 
of the 70,000,000 Latin-Americans. Surely, this must 
be the time when we, if we ever intend to do so, must 
reinforce our Latin brothers. They have done well, 
they have made progress, but they have gone about as 
far as they can in the struggle upon the moral re- 



BEAZILIAN SKETCHES. 131 

sources at their command. Their very progress in edu- 
cation 'and ci^dhzation is widening the breac?h between 
them and their former religious teachers. A new life 
must come in, even the power of the gospel. This alone 
can save Latin-America from inglorious failure. 

We should not deceive ourselves into believing this 
prevailing religion has lost its power, even though it 
is losing its religious hold upon the better classes. It 
still retains its social influence over these same edu- 
cated classes, who despise its priests. This social power 
is a bulwark of strength that we shall experience great 
difficulty in breaking. Then, too, we miay be sure these 
Latin lands will have reinforcement from the Spanish 
priesthood, which fact assures a most astute clerical 
leadership. The Spanish priest is today the most re- 
sourceful, alert and capable priest on the e'arth. I be- 
lieve he is to be the last strong defender of the Eoman 
Catholic organization. It is no accident that Merry 
de Val, the Pope's prime minister, is a Spaniard. His 
appointment to that office is a just recognition of the 
most virile pri^thood in the Rom'an realm. I was pro- 
foundly impressed with the Spanish priest. He looks 
you in the eye. He is on the street, ''hail fellow well 
kmet" with the people. It is evident that he is con- 
scious of power and possesses the gift of leadership 
which he is eager to use. Latin-America will feel the 
force of his capable leadership. 

The situation in Brazil is comphcated furthermore 
by the turn affairs have taken in Portugal. There were 
riots in Eio and public demonstrations against the 
local priests and against the exiled Portuguese priests 
that would probably enter Brazil after the establish- 



132 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

ment of the Portuguese Eepublic. But it appears that 
these Portugu^e clerics are to be admitted. This in- 
cr eases the gra^it^- of the situation. AVe shall be forced 
to take account of these men. They are a part of the 
religious problem of South America. Whether we wish 
to antagonize them or not, we shall be cognizant of 
their power. They will not let us alone. They will not 
give up South America to Protestantism without a 
bitter struggle. 

Now I do not say all of these things of the Catholic 
phase of the rehgious problem in Latin- America for the 
purpose of recommending that we should gird ourselves 
for a polemical mission to these countries. We should 
look the situation squarely in the face that we may be 
able to estimate properly every force with which we 
shall have to do. I think that if the sole purpose in 
conducting th^e missions is to fight the Catholics, then 
we can find work to engage us more worthily. Let us 
evermore keep before us the fact that the Latin races 
have a real need of the gospel and the gospel is not be- 
ing preached to them by the priests. If this is true, our 
duty is clear and our call is imperative. We must go 
and preach a positive, soul-saving gospel, avoiding con- 
flict las far as possible and by satisfying the heart-hun- 
ger of the people with the Bread of Life, win them to 
Christ and a new life in Him. 

I want to enter a plea for these, our brothers to the 
South of us. God has separated them from their old 
soul-d'wrarfing environment in Europe, and set them in 
this Western World that they might learn of Him. 
Whether they realize it or not, they are making the 
last fight for salvation and character their race is ever 



BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 133 

to engage in. They have a need of the gospel as dis- 
tressing as that of the grossest heathen. Their religion 
itself is leading them further and further from their 
saving Lord. Their teadhers, who should show them 
the light of life, are a heclouding hindrance. The little 
band of missionaries we have sent are hopelessly inade- 
quate to the task and plead for reinforcements with a 
pathos that almjost breaks our hearts. Oh, do not some 
of us, as we have followed the portrayal of the needs 
of South America, like Isaiah of old, hear the Lord 
sajdng, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" 
God grant that some of us may respond as he did, 
''Lord, here am, I. Send me." 

The same deep longing for salvation that is in our 
hearts is in the Latin heart. One day in the interior 
of Brazil I stood with a missionary speaking with a 
man who had ridden to the railroad station to talk 
with us a few moments while the train was stopping. 
As we conversed a boy twelve years of age drew near 
to hear us. He was pitifully disfigured with leprosy. 
So moved was the missionary by the sight that he 
turned and said: "Why do you not go somewhere 
and be treated." There flashed instantly in the boy's 
eye a hope that had long since died, and he quickly 
inquired, "Where can I go?" The missionary could 
not tell him, and I watched the last ray of hope flicker 
for 'a second and then die out forever! Ever since 
that day I have been hearing that p'athetic question, 
"Where can I go?" I seem to hear all Latin-Americans 
ask it out of depths of sin. And we know to whoni 
they must go for healing and salvation. Shall we 
tell them? "Lord to whom shall we go — ^thou hast the 



134 BRAZILIAN SKETCHES. 

words of eternal life." To wliom shall Latin-America 
go? Only Ohrist has for them the word of life which 
blessed truth they will never know unless we carry it 
to them. 

THE END. 



APPENDIX. 

SUMMARY OF 

SOUTHERN BAPTIST WORK IN BRAZIL. 

I. Missionaries — 

1. Foreign, 44. 

(1) Men, 21. 

(2) Womien, 23. 

2. Native, 117. 
11. Church Statistics — 

1. Churches, 142. 

2. Memherahip, 9,939. 

3. Church Buildings, 44. 

4. Outstations, 497. 

5. Sunday Schools, 138. 

6. Sunday School Scholars, 4,438. 

III. Schools — 

1. Primary Sdhools, 9. 

2. Bagby School for Girls in Sao Paulo. 

3. Fluminense School for Boys in Nova 

Friburgo. 

4. School for Boys and Girls in Bahia. 

5. School for Boys and Girls in Pernaimbucio. 

6. Rio Biaptist College anid Sominary in Rio. 

7. Total number o^f students, 869. 

8. Theological D'epartmients in connection 

with Rio and Pemambuoo schools. 

IV. General — 

1. Work be.gun in 1882. 

2. Publishing House in Rio. 



MAY 17 1912 



LEAg'12 



BRAZILIAN 
SKETCHES 



T. B. Ray 



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